Investing.com – U.S. equities were mixed at the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Technology, Consumer Goods and Health Care sectors propelled shares higher while losses in the Utilities, Oil & Gas and Basic Materials sectors led shares lower.
At the close in New York, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.04%, while the S&P 500 index declined 0.00%, and the NASDAQ Composite index climbed 0.28%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE:GS), which rose 1.67% or 3.09 points to trade at 187.65 at the close. The Travelers Companies Inc (NYSE:TRV) added 1.17% or 1.25 points to end at 107.77 and UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) was up 0.81% or 0.88 points to 109.85 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Cisco Systems Inc (NASDAQ:CSCO), which lost 2.04% or 0.56 points to trade at 26.93 in late trade. Nike Inc (NYSE:NKE) declined 1.55% or 1.44 points to end at 91.31 and AT&T Inc (NYSE:T) shed 1.32% or 0.46 points to 34.39.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Genworth Financial Inc (NYSE:GNW) which rose 6.66% to 8.33, FMC Technologies Inc (NYSE:FTI) which was up 5.14% to settle at 40.92 and Zoetis Inc (NYSE:ZTS) which gained 4.24% to close at 45.77.
The worst performers were Transocean Ltd (NYSE:RIG) which was down 4.07% to 18.38 in late trade, Pioneer Natural Resources Company (NYSE:PXD) which lost 4.02% to settle at 146.97 and TripAdvisor Inc (NASDAQ:TRIP) which was down 3.87% to 67.27 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Ballard Power Systems Inc (NASDAQ:BLDP) which rose 60.35% to 2.71, CafePress Inc (NASDAQ:PRSS) which was up 33.80% to settle at 2.850 and BSD Medical Corporation (NASDAQ:BSDM) which gained 27.66% to close at 0.400.
The worst performers were Delcath Systems Inc (NASDAQ:DCTH) which was down 19.70% to 1.060 in late trade, Marketo Inc (NASDAQ:MKTO) which lost 19.39% to settle at 28.52 and PostRock Energy Corporation (NASDAQ:PSTR) which was down 19.36% to 5.040 at the close.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 1611 to 1186; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1488 fell and 1287 advanced, while 6 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 1.16% to 17.03.
In commodities trading, Gold for April delivery was down 0.99% or 12.20 to $1220.00 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude Oil for delivery in March fell 1.32% or 0.66 to hit $49.36 a barrel, while the April Brent Oil contract fell 1.97% or 1.13 to trade at $56.36 a barrel.
EUR/USD was down 0.23% to 1.1295, while USD/JPY rose 0.70% to 120.27.
The US Dollar Index was up 0.31% at 95.15.