Investing.com – U.S. equities were mixed at the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Utilities, Technology and Consumer Services sectors propelled shares higher while losses in the Oil & Gas, Basic Materials and Industrials sectors led shares lower.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 0.87%, while the S&P 500 index fell 0.70%, and the NASDAQ Composite index gained 0.05%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Amgen Inc (NASDAQ:AMGN), which rose 1.87% or 4.32 points to trade at 234.90 at the close. Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) added 1.78% or 4.65 points to end at 265.44 and Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) was up 1.43% or 0.40 points to 28.41 in late trade.
Biggest losers included JPMorgan Chase & Co (NYSE:JPM), which lost 4.71% or 6.34 points to trade at 128.28 in late trade. Boeing Co (NYSE:BA) declined 4.34% or 8.99 points to end at 198.29 and Chevron Corp (NYSE:CVX) shed 4.33% or 6.96 points to 153.80.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Charles Schwab Corp (NYSE:SCHW) which rose 5.06% to 59.55, Comerica Inc (NYSE:CMA) which was up 3.06% to settle at 44.83 and Netflix Inc (NASDAQ:NFLX) which gained 3.00% to close at 303.79.
The worst performers were First Republic Bank (NYSE:FRC) which was down 21.37% to 31.16 in late trade, Halliburton Company (NYSE:HAL) which lost 9.04% to settle at 30.40 and Marathon Oil Corporation (NYSE:MRO) which was down 8.52% to 21.25 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Thermogenesis Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:THMO) which rose 98.58% to 4.19, Elevation Oncology Inc (NASDAQ:ELEV) which was up 62.24% to settle at 2.32 and Loyalty Ventures Inc (NASDAQ:LYLT) which gained 59.35% to close at 0.27.
The worst performers were Recon Technology Ltd (NASDAQ:RCON) which was down 64.51% to 0.37 in late trade, American Public Education Inc (NASDAQ:APEI) which lost 50.76% to settle at 4.56 and Bellicum Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:BLCM) which was down 50.14% to 0.43 at the close.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 2306 to 717 and 83 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 2504 fell and 1089 advanced, while 159 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was up 10.16% to 26.14.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for April delivery was up 0.65% or 12.40 to $1,923.30 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in April fell 4.32% or 3.08 to hit $68.25 a barrel, while the May Brent oil contract fell 0.13% or 0.10 to trade at $74.33 a barrel.
EUR/USD was unchanged 0.03% to 1.06, while USD/JPY fell 0.00% to 133.40.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 1.13% at 104.39.