Investing.com – U.S. equities were mixed at the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Basic Materials, Financials and Oil & Gas sectors propelled shares higher while losses in the Utilities, Telecoms and Technology sectors led shares lower.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.61% to hit a new 6-month high, while the S&P 500 index climbed 0.13%, and the NASDAQ Composite index fell 0.08%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE:GS), which rose 2.92% or 6.69 points to trade at 235.58 at the close. JPMorgan Chase & Co (NYSE:JPM) added 2.90% or 3.32 points to end at 117.62 and Caterpillar Inc (NYSE:CAT) was up 2.48% or 3.69 points to 152.76 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Verizon Communications Inc (NYSE:VZ), which lost 1.64% or 0.89 points to trade at 53.50 in late trade. Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) declined 1.33% or 1.51 points to end at 111.70 and Nike Inc (NYSE:NKE) shed 0.97% or 0.83 points to 84.43.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Range Resources Corporation (NYSE:RRC) which rose 5.07% to 17.19, BorgWarner Inc (NYSE:BWA) which was up 5.00% to settle at 45.13 and Newfield Exploration Company (NYSE:NFX) which gained 4.41% to close at 28.91.
The worst performers were Valero Energy Corporation (NYSE:VLO) which was down 4.88% to 109.70 in late trade, Marathon Petroleum Corporation (NYSE:MPC) which lost 4.08% to settle at 80.54 and Andeavor (NYSE:ANDV) which was down 3.54% to 150.26 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Altimmune Inc (NASDAQ:ALT) which rose 285.48% to 16.460, New Age Beverages Corp (NASDAQ:NBEV) which was up 54.96% to settle at 4.37 and Molecular Templates Inc (NASDAQ:MTEM) which gained 52.44% to close at 6.2500.
The worst performers were Realm Therapeutics PLC ADR (NASDAQ:RLM) which was down 21.88% to 5.00 in late trade, Vital Thera (NASDAQ:VTL) which lost 22.90% to settle at 0.33 and Ameri Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:AMRH) which was down 18.08% to 1.45 at the close.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 1657 to 1384 and 108 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1390 fell and 1176 advanced, while 144 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 7.97% to 11.77 a new 1-month low.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for December delivery was up 0.48% or 5.80 to $1208.70 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in November rose 1.62% or 1.13 to hit $70.72 a barrel, while the November Brent oil contract rose 0.24% or 0.19 to trade at $79.22 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.10% to 1.1677, while USD/JPY fell 0.09% to 112.27.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.14% at 94.09.