Investing.com – U.S. equities were mixed at the close on Thursday, as gains in the Technology, Telecommunications and Health Care sectors propelled shares higher while losses in the Oil & Gas, Basic Materials and Utilities sectors led shares lower.
At the close in New York, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.06%, while the S&P 500 index declined 0.15%, and the NASDAQ Composite index added 0.42%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were McDonald's Corporation (NYSE:MCD), which rose 1.74% or 1.70 points to trade at 99.51 at the close. Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) added 1.57% or 1.59 points to end at 102.80 and Cisco Systems Inc (NASDAQ:CSCO) was up 1.42% or 0.42 points to 29.91 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Caterpillar Inc (NYSE:CAT), which lost 1.59% or 1.35 points to trade at 83.80 in late trade. Chevron Corporation (NYSE:CVX) declined 1.40% or 1.52 points to end at 107.06 and International Business Machines (NYSE:IBM) shed 1.19% or 1.94 points to 160.87.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Avago Technologies Limited (NASDAQ:AVGO) which rose 14.71% to 129.25, Salesforce.com Inc (NYSE:CRM) which was up 11.72% to settle at 70.24 and The AES Corporation (NYSE:AES) which gained 5.25% to close at 12.63.
The worst performers were ENSCO plc (NYSE:ESV) which was down 8.16% to 24.41 in late trade, Noble Corporation PLC (NYSE:NE) which lost 6.90% to settle at 16.60 and Newfield Exploration Company (NYSE:NFX) which was down 6.67% to 33.60 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Cytori Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:CYTX) which rose 56.94% to 1.130, Cyclacel Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:CYCC) which was up 51.39% to settle at 1.090 and Response Genetics Inc (NASDAQ:RGDX) which gained 30.44% to close at 0.668.
The worst performers were Essex Rental Corporation (NASDAQ:ESSX) which was down 44.44% to 0.750 in late trade, CollabRx Inc (NASDAQ:CLRX) which lost 38.12% to settle at 1.380 and Corporte Re (NASDAQ:CRRS) which was down 36.09% to 0.12 at the close.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 1643 to 1181; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1539 rose and 1258 declined, while 3 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was up 0.65% to 13.93.
In commodities trading, Gold for April delivery was up 0.66% or 7.90 to $1209.40 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude Oil for delivery in April fell 4.03% or 2.06 to hit $48.94 a barrel, while the April Brent Oil contract fell 1.81% or 1.11 to trade at $60.52 a barrel.
EUR/USD was down 1.46% to 1.1196, while USD/JPY rose 0.52% to 119.47.
The US Dollar Index was up 1.18% at 95.35.