Investing.com – U.S. equities were mixed at the close on Thursday, as gains in the Utilities, Basic Materials and Oil & Gas sectors propelled shares higher while losses in the Technology, Consumer Services and Healthcare sectors led shares lower.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.44% to hit a new 3-month high, while the S&P 500 index declined 0.30%, and the NASDAQ Composite index lost 1.01%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were The Travelers Companies Inc (NYSE:TRV), which rose 2.54% or 3.21 points to trade at 129.49 at the close. Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS) added 2.10% or 2.33 points to end at 113.51 and 3M Company (NYSE:MMM) was up 1.75% or 3.58 points to 207.96 in late trade.
Biggest losers included McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE:MCD), which lost 1.73% or 2.75 points to trade at 156.14 in late trade. Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) declined 1.09% or 1.21 points to end at 109.62 and Home Depot Inc (NYSE:HD) shed 0.80% or 1.60 points to 199.40.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Advanced Micro Devices Inc (NASDAQ:AMD) which rose 14.33% to 18.350, Arconic Inc (NYSE:ARNC) which was up 11.01% to settle at 21.38 and DR Horton Inc (NYSE:DHI) which gained 10.88% to close at 43.84.
The worst performers were Nielsen Holdings (NYSE:NLSN) which was down 25.23% to 22.11 in late trade, Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) which lost 18.96% to settle at 176.26 and Mohawk Industries Inc (NYSE:MHK) which was down 17.51% to 179.31 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Biostar Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:BSPM) which rose 28.21% to 1.7100, PCM Inc (NASDAQ:PCMI) which was up 26.35% to settle at 19.90 and ATN International Inc (NASDAQ:ATNI) which gained 21.94% to close at 65.24.
The worst performers were MoSys Inc (NASDAQ:MOSY) which was down 45.33% to 1.1700 in late trade, Superconductor Technologies Inc (NASDAQ:SCON) which lost 40.35% to settle at 3.0300 and Helios and Matheson Analytics Inc (NASDAQ:HMNY) which was down 35.57% to 6.830 at the close.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 1779 to 1261 and 132 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1402 rose and 1154 declined, while 141 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 1.22% to 12.14.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for August delivery was down 0.76% or 9.40 to $1222.40 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in September rose 0.48% or 0.33 to hit $69.63 a barrel, while the September Brent oil contract rose 0.80% or 0.59 to trade at $74.52 a barrel.
EUR/USD was down 0.70% to 1.1646, while USD/JPY rose 0.23% to 111.23.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.61% at 94.55.