Investing.com – U.S. equities were mixed at the close on Thursday, as gains in the Telecoms, Oil & Gas and Consumer Services sectors propelled shares higher while losses in the Technology, Healthcare and Basic Materials sectors led shares lower.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.39% to hit a new all time high, while the S&P 500 index fell 0.10%, and the NASDAQ Composite index declined 0.63%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Verizon Communications Inc (NYSE:VZ), which rose 7.68% or 3.41 points to trade at 47.81 at the close. Boeing Co (NYSE:BA) added 3.23% or 7.55 points to end at 241.00 and Merck & Company Inc (NYSE:MRK) was up 3.06% or 1.89 points to 63.69 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL), which lost 1.89% or 2.90 points to trade at 150.56 in late trade. American Express Company (NYSE:AXP) declined 1.70% or 1.45 points to end at 83.85 and Visa Inc (NYSE:V) shed 1.27% or 1.28 points to 99.57.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Automatic Data Processing Inc (NASDAQ:ADP) which rose 9.11% to 115.63, Teradata Corporation (NYSE:TDC) which was up 8.51% to settle at 31.88 and Tractor Supply Company (NASDAQ:TSCO) which gained 7.73% to close at 57.53.
The worst performers were CA Inc (NASDAQ:CA) which was down 10.25% to 31.10 in late trade, Johnson Controls International PLC (NYSE:JCI) which lost 7.34% to settle at 40.14 and F5 Networks Inc (NASDAQ:FFIV) which was down 7.16% to 119.02 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Capricor Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:CAPR) which rose 28.71% to 1.3000, ShoreTel Inc (NASDAQ:SHOR) which was up 28.21% to settle at 7.50 and LivePerson Inc (NASDAQ:LPSN) which gained 18.42% to close at 13.50.
The worst performers were Intellipharmaceutics International (NASDAQ:IPCI) which was down 45.38% to 1.360 in late trade, Neuralstem Inc (NASDAQ:CUR) which lost 29.15% to settle at 1.7500 and Diana Containerships Inc (NASDAQ:DCIX) which was down 29.64% to 0.8300 at the close.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 1730 to 1353 and 158 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1664 fell and 822 advanced, while 139 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was up 6.88% to 10.26.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for August delivery was up 0.81% or 10.15 to $1259.55 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in September rose 0.78% or 0.38 to hit $49.13 a barrel, while the September Brent oil contract rose 1.24% or 0.63 to trade at $51.60 a barrel.
EUR/USD was down 0.49% to 1.1678, while USD/JPY rose 0.09% to 111.27.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.51% at 93.77.