U.S. shares mixed at close of trade; Dow Jones Industrial Average down 0.29%

© Reuters U.S. shares mixed at close of trade; Dow Jones Industrial Average down 0.29%

Investing.com – U.S. equities were mixed at the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Consumer Goods, Consumer Services and Industrials sectors propelled shares higher while losses in the Utilities, Oil & Gas and Healthcare sectors led shares lower.

At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.29%, while the S&P 500 index fell 0.25%, and the NASDAQ Composite index gained 0.14%.

The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Dow Inc (NYSE:DOW), which rose 2.64% or 1.44 points to trade at 55.92 at the close. Caterpillar Inc (NYSE:CAT) added 1.51% or 2.59 points to end at 174.50 and Salesforce.com Inc (NYSE:CRM) was up 1.19% or 3.04 points to 259.21 in late trade.

Biggest losers included Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc (NASDAQ:WBA), which lost 2.05% or 0.81 points to trade at 38.58 in late trade. Boeing Co (NYSE:BA) declined 2.17% or 4.55 points to end at 205.50 and Chevron Corp (NYSE:CVX) shed 1.91% or 1.66 points to 85.38.

The top performers on the S&P 500 were Helmerich and Payne Inc (NYSE:HP) which rose 6.28% to 20.15, Coty Inc (NYSE:COTY) which was up 6.07% to settle at 5.42 and Diamondback Energy Inc (NASDAQ:FANG) which gained 4.64% to close at 39.04.

The worst performers were Lowe’s Companies Inc (NYSE:LOW) which was down 7.16% to 148.42 in late trade, Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd (NYSE:NCLH) which lost 6.71% to settle at 20.58 and Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc (NYSE:TMO) which was down 4.45% to 457.69 at the close.

The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Kazia Therapeutics Ltd ADR (NASDAQ:KZIA) which rose 49.60% to 14.78, Naked Brand Group Ltd (NASDAQ:NAKD) which was up 53.64% to settle at 0.135 and BELLUS Health Inc (NASDAQ:BLU) which gained 33.05% to close at 3.18.

The worst performers were CBAK Energy Technology Inc (NASDAQ:CBAT) which was down 35.56% to 6.2700 in late trade, Paysign Inc (NASDAQ:PAYS) which lost 31.92% to settle at 4.18 and Oncternal Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:ONCT) which was down 30.07% to 2.90 at the close.

Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 1482 to 1418 and 105 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1391 fell and 1385 advanced, while 77 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.

The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 0.44% to 22.61.

In commodities trading, Gold Futures for December delivery was down 0.76% or 14.25 to $1870.85 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in January rose 1.06% or 0.44 to hit $42.09 a barrel, while the January Brent oil contract rose 1.62% or 0.71 to trade at $44.46 a barrel.

EUR/USD was up 0.04% to 1.1865, while USD/JPY fell 0.32% to 103.83.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.11% at 92.297.