Investing.com – U.S. equities were mixed at the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Technology, Consumer Goods and Basic Materials 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 lost 0.06%, while the S&P 500 index gained 0.51%, and the NASDAQ Composite index gained 0.88%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Salesforce Inc (NYSE:CRM), which rose 1.86% or 4.76 points to trade at 260.95 at the close. McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE:MCD) added 0.89% or 2.21 points to end at 250.00 and Caterpillar Inc (NYSE:CAT) was up 0.87% or 2.85 points to 330.61 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Unitedhealth Group (NYSE:UNH), which lost 1.68% or 8.35 points to trade at 489.89 in late trade. Merck & Company Inc (NYSE:MRK) declined 1.46% or 1.87 points to end at 125.85 and Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN) shed 1.21% or 2.41 points to 197.59.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Paramount Global Class B (NASDAQ:PARA) which rose 6.90% to 11.46, First Solar Inc (NASDAQ:FSLR) which was up 6.64% to settle at 231.11 and Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) which gained 6.54% to close at 246.39.
The worst performers were Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc (NASDAQ:WBA) which was down 4.06% to 11.10 in late trade, Constellation Brands Inc Class A (NYSE:STZ) which lost 3.31% to settle at 250.37 and Humana Inc (NYSE:HUM) which was down 3.19% to 362.85 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Koss Corporation (NASDAQ:KOSS) which rose 143.81% to 10.63, Medalist Diversified Reit Inc (NASDAQ:MDRR) which was up 119.53% to settle at 13.15 and Adamas One Corp (NASDAQ:JEWL) which gained 89.14% to close at 0.46.
The worst performers were Shapeways Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:SHPW) which was down 62.04% to 0.27 in late trade, Sonim Technologies Inc (NASDAQ:SONM) which lost 42.34% to settle at 0.55 and Autonomix Medical Inc (NASDAQ:AMIX) which was down 31.81% to 0.64 at the close.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 1875 to 926 and 105 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1775 rose and 1513 declined, while 147 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was up 0.50% to 12.09.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for August delivery was up 1.32% or 30.85 to $2,364.25 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in August rose 1.06% or 0.88 to hit $83.69 a barrel, while the September Brent oil contract rose 1.00% or 0.86 to trade at $87.10 a barrel.
EUR/USD was unchanged 0.40% to 1.08, while USD/JPY rose 0.19% to 161.74.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.36% at 105.03.