Investing.com – U.S. equities were mixed at the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Basic Materials, Financials and Utilities sectors propelled shares higher while losses in the Technology, Consumer Services and Consumer Goods sectors led shares lower.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 1.23% to hit a new all time high, while the S&P 500 index climbed 0.51%, and the NASDAQ Composite index lost 0.56%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Caterpillar Inc (NYSE:CAT), which rose 5.41% or 9.93 points to trade at 193.57 at the close. Dow Inc (NYSE:DOW) added 4.64% or 2.59 points to end at 58.39 and Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc (NASDAQ:WBA) was up 4.71% or 1.94 points to 43.10 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Coca-Cola Co (NYSE:KO), which lost 3.39% or 1.77 points to trade at 50.41 in late trade. Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) declined 2.95% or 3.87 points to end at 127.14 and Salesforce.com Inc (NYSE:CRM) shed 2.26% or 5.00 points to 216.52.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Centene Corp (NYSE:CNC) which rose 10.58% to 67.53, Zions Bancorporation (NASDAQ:ZION) which was up 10.39% to settle at 48.14 and Macy’s Inc (NYSE:M) which gained 10.18% to close at 12.55.
The worst performers were NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) which was down 4.57% to 511.69 in late trade, Alexandria Real Estate Equities Inc (NYSE:ARE) which lost 4.07% to settle at 163.65 and Cadence Design Systems Inc (NASDAQ:CDNS) which was down 4.05% to 130.63 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were The9 Ltd ADR (NASDAQ:NCTY) which rose 59.11% to 13.620, Urban One (NASDAQ:UONE) which was up 41.23% to settle at 6.200 and Digital Ally Inc (NASDAQ:DGLY) which gained 37.19% to close at 3.759.
The worst performers were Imara Inc (NASDAQ:IMRA) which was down 37.00% to 14.95 in late trade, Onconova Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:ONTX) which lost 22.77% to settle at 0.6410 and My Size Inc (NASDAQ:MYSZ) which was down 22.49% to 1.310 at the close.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 2012 to 1115 and 49 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1979 rose and 1043 declined, while 57 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was up 3.20% to 26.15.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for February delivery was down 1.56% or 30.40 to $1924.00 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in February rose 0.70% or 0.35 to hit $50.28 a barrel, while the March Brent oil contract rose 0.65% or 0.35 to trade at $53.95 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.26% to 1.2327, while USD/JPY rose 0.28% to 103.00.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.04% at 89.373.