Investing.com – U.S. equities were mixed at the close on Thursday, as gains in the Healthcare, Utilities and Consumer Services sectors propelled shares higher while losses in the Oil & Gas, Basic Materials and Technology sectors led shares lower.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.46%, while the S&P 500 index climbed 0.30%, and the NASDAQ Composite index declined 0.26%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ), which rose 2.48% or 4.00 points to trade at 165.34 at the close. Amgen Inc (NASDAQ:AMGN) added 2.16% or 5.20 points to end at 245.50 and Merck & Company Inc (NYSE:MRK) was up 2.10% or 1.79 points to 87.15 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Boeing Co (NYSE:BA), which lost 4.11% or 6.59 points to trade at 153.66 in late trade. Dow Inc (NYSE:DOW) declined 2.04% or 1.04 points to end at 49.96 and Salesforce.com Inc (NYSE:CRM) shed 1.66% or 2.59 points to 153.53.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were DXC Technology Co (NYSE:DXC) which rose 7.75% to 26.70, Generac Holdlings Inc (NYSE:GNRC) which was up 5.72% to settle at 233.01 and Moderna Inc (NASDAQ:MRNA) which gained 5.05% to close at 138.95.
The worst performers were NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) which was down 7.67% to 139.37 in late trade, Hormel Foods Corporation (NYSE:HRL) which lost 6.56% to settle at 46.98 and Monolithic Power Systems Inc (NASDAQ:MPWR) which was down 6.11% to 425.47 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Hempacco Co Inc (NASDAQ:HPCO) which rose 63.41% to 8.35, GigaCloud Technology Inc (NASDAQ:GCT) which was up 61.43% to settle at 23.65 and Virax Biolabs Group Ltd (NASDAQ:VRAX) which gained 58.69% to close at 5.57.
The worst performers were American Virtual Cloud Technologies Inc (NASDAQ:AVCT) which was down 52.17% to 0.22 in late trade, Newage Inc (NASDAQ:NBEV) which lost 46.87% to settle at 0.12 and Okta Inc (NASDAQ:OKTA) which was down 33.70% to 60.60 at the close.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 2234 to 904 and 117 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 2416 fell and 1333 advanced, while 244 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 1.20% to 25.56.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for December delivery was down 1.14% or 19.60 to $1,706.60 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in October fell 3.55% or 3.18 to hit $86.37 a barrel, while the November Brent oil contract fell 3.71% or 3.55 to trade at $92.09 a barrel.
EUR/USD was down 1.11% to 0.99, while USD/JPY rose 0.89% to 140.20.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.91% at 109.65.