Investing.com – U.S. equities were mixed at the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Technology, Healthcare and Industrials sectors propelled shares higher while losses in the Oil & Gas, Basic Materials and Utilities sectors led shares lower.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.01%, while the S&P 500 index gained 0.15%, and the NASDAQ Composite index climbed 0.67%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC), which rose 2.63% or 0.88 points to trade at 34.34 at the close. Boeing Co (NYSE:BA) added 1.62% or 3.22 points to end at 201.81 and Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) was up 1.33% or 0.91 points to 69.08 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Nike Inc (NYSE:NKE), which lost 1.86% or 1.09 points to trade at 57.56 in late trade. Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS) declined 1.70% or 1.83 points to end at 105.63 and Chevron Corporation (NYSE:CVX) shed 1.58% or 1.68 points to 104.62.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Micron Technology Inc (NASDAQ:MU) which rose 4.70% to 30.51, PayPal Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:PYPL) which was up 3.29% to settle at 54.61 and Alexion Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:ALXN) which gained 3.28% to close at 125.05.
The worst performers were O'Reilly Automotive Inc (NASDAQ:ORLY) which was down 18.89% to 178.77 in late trade, Advance Auto Parts Inc (NYSE:AAP) which lost 11.15% to settle at 105.21 and AutoZone Inc (NYSE:AZO) which was down 9.60% to 516.83 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Cerulean Pharma Inc (NASDAQ:CERU) which rose 144.32% to 1.130, Precipio Inc (NASDAQ:PRPO) which was up 66.12% to settle at 20.1000 and Monster Digital Inc (NASDAQ:MSDI) which gained 32.28% to close at 1.68.
The worst performers were Diana Containerships Inc (NASDAQ:DCIX) which was down 26.50% to 1.4200 in late trade, O'Reilly Automotive Inc (NASDAQ:ORLY) which lost 18.89% to settle at 178.77 and Net Element Inc (NASDAQ:NETE) which was down 15.38% to 0.5500 at the close.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 1946 to 1174 and 128 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1419 fell and 1074 advanced, while 148 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 1.34% to 11.07.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for August delivery was up 0.52% or 6.36 to $1225.56 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in August fell 4.29% or 2.02 to hit $45.05 a barrel, while the September Brent oil contract fell 3.79% or 1.88 to trade at $47.73 a barrel.
EUR/USD was down 0.04% to 1.1345, while USD/JPY fell 0.05% to 113.22.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.02% at 96.01.