Investing.com – U.S. equities were mixed at the close on Monday, as gains in the Healthcare, Consumer Services and Utilities sectors propelled shares higher while losses in the Basic Materials, Oil & Gas and Industrials sectors led shares lower.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.20%, while the S&P 500 index climbed 0.08%, and the NASDAQ Composite index climbed 0.30%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Wal-Mart Stores Inc (NYSE:WMT), which rose 1.03% or 0.70 points to trade at 68.95 at the close. Merck & Company Inc (NYSE:MRK) added 0.93% or 0.50 points to end at 54.10 and Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) was up 0.86% or 0.97 points to 113.72 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Caterpillar Inc (NYSE:CAT), which lost 3.52% or 2.58 points to trade at 70.78 in late trade. Chevron Corporation (NYSE:CVX) declined 1.48% or 1.51 points to end at 100.35 and United Technologies Corporation (NYSE:UTX) shed 1.02% or 1.03 points to 100.09.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Mallinckrodt (NYSE:MNK) which rose 6.14% to 59.85, Allergan Plc (NYSE:AGN) which was up 5.98% to settle at 213.71 and Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc (NYSE:CMG) which gained 4.49% to close at 453.17.
The worst performers were Freeport-McMoran Copper & Gold Inc (NYSE:FCX) which was down 10.77% to 10.52 in late trade, Chesapeake Energy Corporation (NYSE:CHK) which lost 10.68% to settle at 4.10 and Transocean Ltd (NYSE:RIG) which was down 6.92% to 9.96 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were AveXis Inc (NASDAQ:AVXS) which rose 24.08% to 31.43, Ceragon Networks Ltd (NASDAQ:CRNT) which was up 20.34% to settle at 1.42 and Argos Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:ARGS) which gained 18.12% to close at 6.91.
The worst performers were Fairway Group Holdings Corp (NASDAQ:FWM) which was down 33.91% to 0.1150 in late trade, Unilife Corporation (NASDAQ:UNIS) which lost 29.04% to settle at 0.3601 and Bind Therap (NASDAQ:BIND) which was down 24.56% to 0.43 at the close.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 1777 to 1549 and 29 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1380 rose and 1186 declined, while 64 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 1.15% to 14.55.
In commodities trading, Gold for June delivery was down 2.28% or 29.50 to $1264.50 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in June fell 2.87% or 1.28 to hit $43.38 a barrel, while the July Brent oil contract fell 4.01% or 1.82 to trade at $43.55 a barrel.
EUR/USD was down 0.18% to 1.1383, while USD/JPY rose 1.15% to 108.35.
The US Dollar Index was up 0.30% at 94.11.