Investing.com – U.S. equities were mixed at the close on Thursday, as gains in the Telecoms, Financials and Consumer Goods sectors propelled shares higher while losses in the Basic Materials, Oil & Gas and Healthcare sectors led shares lower.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.19%, while the S&P 500 index lost 0.05%, and the NASDAQ Composite index lost 0.36%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Boeing Co (NYSE:BA), which rose 4.25% or 14.44 points to trade at 354.43 at the close. JPMorgan Chase & Co (NYSE:JPM) added 1.12% or 1.20 points to end at 108.81 and Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE:GS) was up 0.86% or 1.73 points to 202.41 in late trade.
Biggest losers included UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH), which lost 3.09% or 7.42 points to trade at 232.93 in late trade. Dow Inc (NYSE:DOW) declined 2.77% or 1.20 points to end at 42.08 and Cisco Systems Inc (NASDAQ:CSCO) shed 1.21% or 0.59 points to 48.18.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Nordstrom Inc (NYSE:JWN) which rose 15.83% to 30.74, Keysight Technologies Inc (NYSE:KEYS) which was up 12.50% to settle at 100.28 and Alexion Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:ALXN) which gained 7.53% to close at 123.49.
The worst performers were Cigna Corp (NYSE:CI) which was down 4.11% to 155.66 in late trade, Albemarle Corp (NYSE:ALB) which lost 3.99% to settle at 63.28 and L Brands Inc (NYSE:LB) which was down 3.49% to 19.33 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Net Element Inc (NASDAQ:NETE) which rose 61.21% to 5.3200, Kirklands Inc (NASDAQ:KIRK) which was up 25.83% to settle at 1.51 and Cemtrex Inc (NASDAQ:CETX) which gained 22.53% to close at 2.2300.
The worst performers were Clearside Biomedical Inc (NASDAQ:CLSD) which was down 38.21% to 0.7786 in late trade, Avinger Inc (NASDAQ:AVGR) which lost 32.34% to settle at 1.13 and Stein Mart Inc (NASDAQ:SMRT) which was down 24.87% to 0.71 at the close.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 1601 to 1385 and 32 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1599 fell and 1045 advanced, while 93 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was up 5.57% to 16.68.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for December delivery was down 0.53% or 8.00 to $1507.70 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in October fell 0.50% or 0.28 to hit $55.40 a barrel, while the October Brent oil contract rose 0.02% or 0.01 to trade at $60.03 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.03% to 1.1081, while USD/JPY fell 0.00% to 106.42.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.08% at 98.102.