Investing.com – U.S. equities were mixed at the close on Thursday, as gains in the Utilities, Oil & Gas and Consumer Goods sectors propelled shares higher while losses in the Basic Materials, Telecoms and Consumer Services sectors led shares lower.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.29%, while the S&P 500 index fell 0.02%, and the NASDAQ Composite index declined 0.39%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG), which rose 2.62% or 2.46 points to trade at 96.49 at the close. McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE:MCD) added 1.61% or 2.95 points to end at 186.43 and Merck & Company Inc (NYSE:MRK) was up 1.28% or 1.00 points to 79.01 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Nike Inc (NYSE:NKE), which lost 1.87% or 1.39 points to trade at 72.93 in late trade. DowDuPont Inc (NYSE:DWDP) declined 1.05% or 0.57 points to end at 53.78 and American Express Company (NYSE:AXP) shed 0.73% or 0.78 points to 106.70.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were General Electric Company (NYSE:GE) which rose 7.30% to 7.20, Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) which was up 6.64% to settle at 45.75 and Kimberly-Clark Corporation (NYSE:KMB) which gained 3.93% to close at 118.40.
The worst performers were Monster Beverage Corp (NASDAQ:MNST) which was down 6.98% to 53.43 in late trade, Hanesbrands Inc (NYSE:HBI) which lost 6.63% to settle at 13.80 and Under Armour Inc C (NYSE:UA) which was down 6.31% to 17.810 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Adial Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:ADIL) which rose 104.93% to 4.16, Cancer Genetics Inc (NASDAQ:CGIX) which was up 55.32% to settle at 0.365 and Pernix Therapeutics Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:PTX) which gained 22.86% to close at 0.430.
The worst performers were Applied Genetic (NASDAQ:AGTC) which was down 47.10% to 3.47 in late trade, CounterPath Corp (NASDAQ:CPAH) which lost 22.53% to settle at 1.410 and LogicBio Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:LOGC) which was down 21.77% to 9.70 at the close.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 1975 to 1089 and 98 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 2006 fell and 653 advanced, while 55 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 3.77% to 20.65.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for February delivery was down 0.25% or 3.15 to $1246.85 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in January rose 3.85% or 1.97 to hit $53.12 a barrel, while the February Brent oil contract rose 2.86% or 1.72 to trade at $61.87 a barrel.
EUR/USD was down 0.05% to 1.1362, while USD/JPY rose 0.27% to 113.59.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.05% at 97.070.