Investing.com – U.S. equities were mixed at the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Telecoms, Financials and Consumer Services sectors propelled shares higher while losses in the Technology, Basic Materials and Utilities sectors led shares lower.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.44% to hit a new all time high, while the S&P 500 index lost 0.04%, and the NASDAQ Composite index fell 1.27%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH), which rose 3.12% or 6.74 points to trade at 222.88 at the close. JPMorgan Chase & Co (NYSE:JPM) added 2.34% or 2.37 points to end at 103.73 and Verizon Communications Inc (NYSE:VZ) was up 2.21% or 1.08 points to 49.90 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Visa Inc (NYSE:V), which lost 3.09% or 3.50 points to trade at 109.86 in late trade. Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) declined 2.07% or 3.59 points to end at 169.48 and Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) shed 1.81% or 1.54 points to 83.34.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Target Corporation (NYSE:TGT) which rose 8.94% to 61.68, Macy’s Inc (NYSE:M) which was up 8.16% to settle at 23.98 and Advance Auto Parts Inc (NYSE:AAP) which gained 7.66% to close at 99.95.
The worst performers were Autodesk Inc (NASDAQ:ADSK) which was down 15.86% to 109.34 in late trade, Micron Technology Inc (NASDAQ:MU) which lost 8.74% to settle at 43.74 and Lam Research Corp (NASDAQ:LRCX) which was down 8.68% to 194.64 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were PhaseRx Inc (NASDAQ:PZRX) which rose 45.00% to 1.16, Burcon Nutrascience Corp (NASDAQ:BUR) which was up 36.78% to settle at 0.550 and Cerecor Inc (NASDAQ:CERC) which gained 36.36% to close at 1.800.
The worst performers were Xunlei Ltd Adr (NASDAQ:XNET) which was down 31.11% to 12.80 in late trade, Cenveo Inc (NASDAQ:CVO) which lost 26.03% to settle at 1.080 and Data I/O Corporation (NASDAQ:DAIO) which was down 16.09% to 12.310 at the close.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 1561 to 1559 and 104 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1287 rose and 1271 declined, while 94 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was up 6.58% to 10.69.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for December delivery was down 0.90% or 11.70 to $1283.20 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in January fell 0.93% or 0.54 to hit $57.45 a barrel, while the February Brent oil contract fell 0.79% or 0.50 to trade at $62.74 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.08% to 1.1850, while USD/JPY rose 0.39% to 111.91.
The US Dollar Index Futures was unchanged 0.00% at 93.20.