Investing.com – U.S. equities were mixed at the close on Monday, as gains in the Healthcare, Technology and Consumer Services sectors propelled shares higher while losses in the Oil & Gas, Telecoms and Basic Materials sectors led shares lower.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 0.15%, while the S&P 500 index fell 0.13%, and the NASDAQ Composite index added 0.43%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL), which rose 1.77% or 1.84 points to trade at 106.05 at the close. Pfizer Inc (NYSE:PFE) added 1.14% or 0.42 points to end at 37.31 and Wal-Mart Stores Inc (NYSE:WMT) was up 1.10% or 0.80 points to 73.78 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE:XOM), which lost 3.47% or 3.09 points to trade at 85.86 in late trade. Chevron Corporation (NYSE:CVX) declined 3.29% or 3.37 points to end at 99.11 and Verizon Communications Inc (NYSE:VZ) shed 1.57% or 0.87 points to 54.50.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Biogen Inc (NASDAQ:BIIB) which rose 4.10% to 301.83, Alexion Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:ALXN) which was up 3.81% to settle at 133.50 and Netflix Inc (NASDAQ:NFLX) which gained 3.42% to close at 94.37.
The worst performers were Diamond Offshore Drilling Inc (NYSE:DO) which was down 7.66% to 20.98 in late trade, Transocean Ltd (NYSE:RIG) which lost 6.73% to settle at 10.25 and Murphy Oil Corporation (NYSE:MUR) which was down 6.56% to 25.63 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were TOP SHIPS Inc (NASDAQ:TOPS) which rose 155.21% to 6.6100, Sino-Global Shipping America Ltd (NASDAQ:SINO) which was up 31.30% to settle at 1.5100 and Ionis Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:IONS) which gained 30.22% to close at 38.01.
The worst performers were Xenith Bankshares Inc (NASDAQ:XBKS) which was down 75.39% to 2.19 in late trade, Keryx Biopharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:KERX) which lost 35.87% to settle at 4.720 and Inotek Pharmaceuticals Corp (NASDAQ:ITEK) which was down 29.43% to 6.69 at the close.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 1894 to 1372 and 25 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1299 rose and 1274 declined, while 65 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was up 4.55% to 12.41.
In commodities trading, Gold for December delivery was up 0.30% or 4.05 to $1361.55 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in September fell 3.65% or 1.52 to hit $40.08 a barrel, while the October Brent oil contract fell 2.89% or 1.26 to trade at $42.27 a barrel.
EUR/USD was down 0.10% to 1.1163, while USD/JPY rose 0.38% to 102.42.
The US Dollar Index was up 0.22% at 95.74.