Investing.com – U.S. equities were mixed at the close on Thursday, as gains in the Basic Materials, Consumer Services and Technology sectors propelled shares higher while losses in the Utilities, Telecoms and Oil & Gas sectors led shares lower.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 0.13%, while the S&P 500 index fell 0.09%, and the NASDAQ Composite index climbed 0.36%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE:GS), which rose 0.98% or 1.42 points to trade at 147.00 at the close. Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) added 0.70% or 0.23 points to end at 33.20 and Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS) was up 0.69% or 0.67 points to 98.41 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Verizon Communications Inc (NYSE:VZ), which lost 1.53% or 0.86 points to trade at 55.38 in late trade. Chevron Corporation (NYSE:CVX) declined 1.46% or 1.53 points to end at 103.05 and Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE:XOM) shed 1.20% or 1.13 points to 92.96.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST) which rose 4.93% to 163.70, Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) which was up 4.84% to settle at 47.66 and Viacom B Inc (NASDAQ:VIAB) which gained 4.01% to close at 43.04.
The worst performers were First Solar Inc (NASDAQ:FSLR) which was down 9.75% to 44.34 in late trade, Humana Inc (NYSE:HUM) which lost 9.58% to settle at 162.74 and Aetna Inc (NYSE:AET) which was down 3.97% to 115.47 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were SemiLEDS Corporation (NASDAQ:LEDS) which rose 207.65% to 10.1500, Epirus Biopharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:EPRS) which was up 49.80% to settle at 0.370 and US Energy Corp (NASDAQ:USEG) which gained 40.67% to close at 2.4899.
The worst performers were Sajan Inc (NASDAQ:SAJA) which was down 15.79% to 4.000 in late trade, Bind Therap (NASDAQ:BIND) which lost 14.60% to settle at 0.550 and Aeglea Bio Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:AGLE) which was down 13.16% to 3.96 at the close.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 1737 to 1541 and 25 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1453 rose and 1081 declined, while 86 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 0.67% to 14.86.
In commodities trading, Gold for August delivery was down 0.44% or 6.00 to $1361.10 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in August fell 4.72% or 2.24 to hit $45.19 a barrel, while the September Brent oil contract fell 4.75% or 2.32 to trade at $46.48 a barrel.
EUR/USD was down 0.31% to 1.1065, while USD/JPY fell 0.51% to 100.80.
The US Dollar Index was up 0.18% at 96.30.