Investing.com – U.S. equities were mixed at the close on Thursday, as gains in the Technology, Financials and Consumer Services sectors propelled shares higher while losses in the Utilities, Healthcare and Oil & Gas sectors led shares lower.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.07%, while the S&P 500 index lost 0.16%, and the NASDAQ Composite index gained 0.01%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were International Business Machines (NYSE:IBM), which rose 0.81% or 1.43 points to trade at 177.24 at the close. American Express Company (NYSE:AXP) added 0.68% or 0.54 points to end at 79.77 and Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE:GS) was up 0.58% or 1.44 points to 248.22 in late trade.
Biggest losers included E I du Pont de Nemours & Co (NYSE:DD), which lost 1.08% or 0.88 points to trade at 80.61 in late trade. Chevron Corporation (NYSE:CVX) declined 0.94% or 1.02 points to end at 107.86 and Merck & Company Inc (NYSE:MRK) shed 0.80% or 0.52 points to 64.18.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Oracle Corporation (NYSE:ORCL) which rose 6.23% to 45.73, Frontier Communications Corporation (NASDAQ:FTR) which was up 4.15% to settle at 2.51 and NRG Energy Inc (NYSE:NRG) which gained 2.46% to close at 17.89.
The worst performers were Biogen Inc (NASDAQ:BIIB) which was down 4.67% to 278.96 in late trade, Illumina Inc (NASDAQ:ILMN) which lost 3.91% to settle at 159.46 and Newmont Mining Corporation (NYSE:NEM) which was down 3.78% to 32.81 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were TOP SHIPS Inc (NASDAQ:TOPS) which rose 109.52% to 2.2000, Globus Maritime Ltd (NASDAQ:GLBS) which was up 56.02% to settle at 6.7400 and Innocoll AG (NASDAQ:INNL) which gained 37.12% to close at 1.8775.
The worst performers were TrovaGene Inc (NASDAQ:TROV) which was down 25.71% to 1.300 in late trade, Arotech Corporation (NASDAQ:ARTX) which lost 25.61% to settle at 3.050 and Caredx Inc (NASDAQ:CDNA) which was down 25.58% to 1.600 at the close.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 1758 to 1477 and 33 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1496 rose and 1026 declined, while 82 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 3.61% to 11.21.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for April delivery was up 2.14% or 25.65 to $1226.35 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in April fell 0.10% or 0.05 to hit $48.81 a barrel, while the May Brent oil contract fell 0.10% or 0.05 to trade at $51.76 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.33% to 1.0767, while USD/JPY fell 0.11% to 113.26.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.28% at 100.08.