Investing.com – U.S. equities were mixed at the close on Thursday, as gains in the Consumer Services, Telecoms and Financials sectors propelled shares higher while losses in the Consumer Goods, Healthcare and Industrials sectors led shares lower.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.16% to hit a new all time high, while the S&P 500 index declined 0.07%, and the NASDAQ Composite index fell 0.01%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Boeing Co (NYSE:BA), which rose 1.21% or 2.03 points to trade at 169.39 at the close. E I du Pont de Nemours & Co (NYSE:DD) added 1.23% or 0.94 points to end at 77.61 and Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) was up 0.91% or 0.58 points to 64.26 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Verizon Communications Inc (NYSE:VZ), which lost 1.39% or 0.69 points to trade at 49.08 in late trade. Caterpillar Inc (NYSE:CAT) declined 1.00% or 0.98 points to end at 97.17 and United Technologies Corporation (NYSE:UTX) shed 0.84% or 0.93 points to 110.03.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were United Rentals Inc (NYSE:URI) which rose 10.91% to 126.73, Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd (NYSE:RCL) which was up 8.72% to settle at 95.31 and Southwest Airlines Company (NYSE:LUV) which gained 8.65% to close at 53.74.
The worst performers were Mattel Inc (NASDAQ:MAT) which was down 17.78% to 25.95 in late trade, McKesson Corporation (NYSE:MCK) which lost 8.64% to settle at 138.05 and Whirlpool Corporation (NYSE:WHR) which was down 8.41% to 174.20 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Fuwei Films Holdings Co Ltd (NASDAQ:FFHL) which rose 44.82% to 3.3308, Avinger Inc (NASDAQ:AVGR) which was up 29.35% to settle at 2.98 and Monster Digital Inc (NASDAQ:MSDI) which gained 27.70% to close at 2.03.
The worst performers were Real Goods Solar Inc (NASDAQ:RGSE) which was down 36.04% to 3.5900 in late trade, DragonWave Inc (NASDAQ:DRWI) which lost 21.43% to settle at 1.6500 and World Acceptance Corporation (NASDAQ:WRLD) which was down 18.58% to 49.22 at the close.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 1735 to 1420 and 64 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1575 fell and 897 advanced, while 127 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 1.30% to 10.67 a new 52-week low.
In commodities trading, Gold for February delivery was down 0.71% or 8.55 to $1189.25 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in March rose 2.01% or 1.06 to hit $53.81 a barrel, while the March Brent oil contract rose 2.16% or 1.19 to trade at $56.27 a barrel.
EUR/USD was down 0.56% to 1.0691, while USD/JPY rose 0.98% to 114.41.
The US Dollar Index was up 0.53% at 100.44.