Investing.com – U.S. equities were mixed at the close on Thursday, as gains in the Financials, Oil & Gas and Industrials sectors propelled shares higher while losses in the Technology, Utilities and Healthcare sectors led shares lower.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.26% to hit a new all time high, while the S&P 500 index declined 0.48%, and the NASDAQ Composite index lost 1.56%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE:GS), which rose 2.89% or 6.33 points to trade at 225.62 at the close. General Electric Company (NYSE:GE) added 1.97% or 0.60 points to end at 31.36 and UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) was up 1.86% or 2.95 points to 161.27 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC), which lost 3.13% or 1.09 points to trade at 33.61 in late trade. Visa Inc (NYSE:V) declined 2.43% or 1.88 points to end at 75.44 and Pfizer Inc (NYSE:PFE) shed 2.02% or 0.65 points to 31.49.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Southwestern Energy Company (NYSE:SWN) which rose 6.74% to 12.12, General Motors Company (NYSE:GM) which was up 5.59% to settle at 36.46 and Flowserve Corporation (NYSE:FLS) which gained 4.68% to close at 49.67.
The worst performers were Microchip Technology Incorporated (NASDAQ:MCHP) which was down 8.16% to 60.78 in late trade, Lam Research Corp (NASDAQ:LRCX) which lost 7.56% to settle at 98.01 and Applied Materials Inc (NASDAQ:AMAT) which was down 7.14% to 29.90 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Venaxis Inc (NASDAQ:APPY) which rose 58.04% to 4.8201, Vanguard Natural Resources LLC (NASDAQ:VNR) which was up 32.53% to settle at 0.770 and Biostage Inc (NASDAQ:BSTG) which gained 34.80% to close at 1.078.
The worst performers were Heat Biolog (NASDAQ:HTBX) which was down 64.35% to 1.023 in late trade, Aradigm Cor (NASDAQ:ARDM) which lost 56.68% to settle at 2.270 and Genetic Technologies Ltd (NASDAQ:GENE) which was down 36.07% to 1.400 at the close.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 2017 to 1152 and 61 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1545 fell and 960 advanced, while 95 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was up 7.20% to 14.29.
In commodities trading, Gold for February delivery was down 0.06% or 0.75 to $1173.15 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in January rose 2.83% or 1.40 to hit $50.84 a barrel, while the February Brent oil contract rose 3.53% or 1.83 to trade at $53.67 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.52% to 1.0646, while USD/JPY fell 0.29% to 114.12.
The US Dollar Index was down 0.49% at 101.13.