Investing.com – U.S. equities were mixed at the close on Thursday, as gains in the Basic Materials, Oil & Gas and Industrials sectors propelled shares higher while losses in the Healthcare, Telecoms and Consumer Services sectors led shares lower.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 0.07%, while the S&P 500 index climbed 0.05%, and the NASDAQ Composite index declined 0.17%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Home Depot Inc (NYSE:HD), which rose 2.06% or 2.63 points to trade at 130.21 at the close. EI du Pont de Nemours and Company (NYSE:DD) added 1.44% or 0.98 points to end at 69.06 and Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) was up 0.74% or 0.84 points to 113.89 in late trade.
Biggest losers included American Express Company (NYSE:AXP), which lost 3.76% or 2.42 points to trade at 61.94 in late trade. Wal-Mart Stores Inc (NYSE:WMT) declined 3.21% or 2.30 points to end at 69.37 and UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) shed 0.81% or 1.11 points to 136.49.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Whole Foods Market Inc (NASDAQ:WFM) which rose 4.90% to 29.33, Lam Research Corp (NASDAQ:LRCX) which was up 4.18% to settle at 100.19 and Salesforce.com Inc (NYSE:CRM) which gained 4.15% to close at 71.26.
The worst performers were American Express Company (NYSE:AXP) which was down 3.76% to 61.94 in late trade, Endo International PLC (NASDAQ:ENDP) which lost 3.69% to settle at 20.63 and Freeport-McMoran Copper & Gold Inc (NYSE:FCX) which was down 3.47% to 10.30 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Aurinia Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:AUPH) which rose 25.93% to 5.100, Georgetown Bancorp Inc (NASDAQ:GTWN) which was up 24.69% to settle at 25.450 and Cosi Inc (NASDAQ:COSI) which gained 23.10% to close at 0.0373.
The worst performers were Alnylam Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:ALNY) which was down 48.49% to 36.21 in late trade, Inventergy (NASDAQ:INVT) which lost 31.45% to settle at 0.850 and Idera Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:IDRA) which was down 16.48% to 2.180 at the close.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 1771 to 1358 and 91 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1492 fell and 1001 advanced, while 101 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 1.00% to 12.86.
In commodities trading, Gold for December delivery was down 1.01% or 12.75 to $1255.85 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in November rose 1.42% or 0.71 to hit $50.54 a barrel, while the December Brent oil contract rose 1.47% or 0.76 to trade at $52.62 a barrel.
EUR/USD was down 0.51% to 1.1148, while USD/JPY rose 0.49% to 104.02.
The US Dollar Index was up 0.59% at 96.70.