Investing.com – U.S. equities were mixed at the close on Thursday, as gains in the Utilities, Telecoms and Healthcare sectors propelled shares higher while losses in the Basic Materials, Industrials and Consumer Services sectors led shares lower.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.24% to hit a new all time high, while the S&P 500 index added 0.12%, and the NASDAQ Composite index declined 0.38%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ), which rose 1.84% or 2.20 points to trade at 121.72 at the close. Pfizer Inc (NYSE:PFE) added 1.48% or 0.50 points to end at 34.09 and Verizon Communications Inc (NYSE:VZ) was up 1.39% or 0.69 points to 50.36 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Caterpillar Inc (NYSE:CAT), which lost 2.65% or 2.60 points to trade at 95.60 in late trade. Nike Inc (NYSE:NKE) declined 0.41% or 0.24 points to end at 58.00 and General Electric Company (NYSE:GE) shed 0.37% or 0.11 points to 29.98.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were First Solar Inc (NASDAQ:FSLR) which rose 11.10% to 37.30, HP Inc (NYSE:HPQ) which was up 8.83% to settle at 17.63 and Transocean Ltd (NYSE:RIG) which gained 7.19% to close at 14.23.
The worst performers were L Brands Inc (NYSE:LB) which was down 14.96% to 49.44 in late trade, NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) which lost 9.53% to settle at 100.20 and United Rentals Inc (NYSE:URI) which was down 5.50% to 121.02 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Nova Lifestyle I (NASDAQ:NVFY) which rose 41.99% to 2.570, Pernix Therapeutics Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:PTX) which was up 21.82% to settle at 3.350 and FlexShopper Inc (NASDAQ:FPAY) which gained 17.76% to close at 5.040000.
The worst performers were Ocean Rig UDW Inc (NASDAQ:ORIG) which was down 24.53% to 0.82 in late trade, Cyclacel Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:CYCC) which lost 21.88% to settle at 4.2500 and VisionChina Media Inc (NASDAQ:VISN) which was down 17.73% to 2.871 at the close.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 1703 to 1423 and 79 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1537 fell and 938 advanced, while 104 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was up 0.60% to 11.81.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for April delivery was up 1.39% or 17.15 to $1250.45 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in April rose 1.46% or 0.78 to hit $54.37 a barrel, while the April Brent oil contract rose 1.20% or 0.67 to trade at $56.51 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.23% to 1.0580, while USD/JPY fell 0.55% to 112.69.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.32% at 100.99.