Investing.com – U.S. stocks were mixed after the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Oil & Gas, Consumer Services and Utilities sectors led shares higher while losses in the Financials, Healthcare and Consumer Goods sectors led shares lower.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.55%, while the S&P 500 index fell 0.29%, and the NASDAQ Composite index gained 0.07%.
The best performers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Home Depot Inc (NYSE:HD), which rose 1.07% or 1.97 points to trade at 186.10 at the close. Meanwhile, McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE:MCD) added 1.02% or 1.86 points to end at 184.97 and Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) was up 0.87% or 1.63 points to 188.16 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE:GS), which fell 3.38% or 6.80 points to trade at 194.32 at the close. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) declined 2.58% or 6.63 points to end at 250.50 and JPMorgan Chase & Co (NYSE:JPM) was down 2.13% or 2.28 points to 104.52.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Range Resources Corp (NYSE:RRC) which rose 5.11% to 11.31, Netflix Inc (NASDAQ:NFLX) which was up 4.58% to settle at 375.22 and Pioneer Natural Resources Company (NYSE:PXD) which gained 4.51% to close at 144.44.
The worst performers were Viacom B Inc (NASDAQ:VIAB) which was down 5.49% to 26.01 in late trade, KeyCorp (NYSE:KEY) which lost 5.33% to settle at 16.53 and Brighthouse Financial Inc (NASDAQ:BHF) which was down 5.23% to 38.03 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were PDS Biotechnology Corp (F:EU6) which rose 1000.00% to 6.700, Motif Bio PLC (NASDAQ:MTFB) which was up 55.28% to settle at 2.50 and Estre USA Inc Class A (NASDAQ:ESTR) which gained 44.34% to close at 2.29.
The worst performers were B Communications Ltd (NASDAQ:BCOM) which was down 33.91% to 2.30 in late trade, Phunware Inc (NASDAQ:PHUN) which lost 32.96% to settle at 27.82 and Internet Gold Golden Lines Ltd (NASDAQ:IGLD) which was down 26.54% to 0.58 at the close.
Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the New York Stock Exchange by 1651 to 1319 and 115 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1670 fell and 982 advanced, while 73 ended unchanged.
Shares in B Communications Ltd (NASDAQ:BCOM) fell to 5-year lows; losing 33.91% or 1.18 to 2.30.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was up 2.58% to 13.91.
Gold Futures for April delivery was up 0.52% or 6.75 to $1313.25 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in May rose 1.35% or 0.80 to hit $60.09 a barrel, while the May Brent oil contract rose 1.12% or 0.76 to trade at $68.37 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.59% to 1.1416, while USD/JPY fell 0.59% to 110.72.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.42% at 95.425.