U.S. shares mixed at close of trade; Dow Jones Industrial Average up 0.16%

Investing.com – U.S. equities were mixed at the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Telecoms , Basic Materials and Financials sectors propelled shares higher while losses in the Technology , Utilities and Oil & Gas sectors led shares lower.

At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.16% to hit a new all time high, while the S&P 500 index lost 0.06%, and the NASDAQ Composite index declined 0.61%.

The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE: GS ), which rose 2.15% or 5.59 points to trade at 265.68 at the close. Verizon Communications Inc (NYSE: VZ ) added 1.86% or 0.99 points to end at 54.22 and American Express Company (NYSE: AXP ) was up 1.35% or 1.32 points to 99.30 in late trade.

Biggest losers included General Electric Company (NYSE: GE ), which lost 2.66% or 0.45 points to trade at 16.44 in late trade. Apple Inc (NASDAQ: AAPL ) declined 1.59% or 2.82 points to end at 174.22 and Intel Corporation (NASDAQ: INTC ) shed 1.22% or 0.56 points to 45.50.

The top performers on the S&P 500 were WW Grainger Inc (NYSE: GWW ) which rose 18.53% to 271.97, Navient Corp (NASDAQ: NAVI ) which was up 7.96% to settle at 14.51 and General Dynamics Corporation (NYSE: GD ) which gained 5.68% to close at 219.27.

The worst performers were United Continental Holdings Inc (NYSE: UAL ) which was down 11.44% to 69.05 in late trade, Texas Instruments Incorporated (NASDAQ: TXN ) which lost 8.50% to settle at 109.70 and Alaska Air Group Inc (NYSE: ALK ) which was down 6.88% to 64.69 at the close.

The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were RF Industries Ltd (NASDAQ: RFIL ) which rose 30.77% to 3.400, Achieve Life Sciences Inc (NASDAQ: ACHV ) which was up 32.84% to settle at 2.0200 and One Horizon Group Inc (NASDAQ: OHGI ) which gained 30.00% to close at 2.2100.

The worst performers were Puma Biotechnology Inc (NASDAQ: PBYI ) which was down 28.82% to 64.70 in late trade, Biolase Inc (NASDAQ: BIOL ) which lost 19.21% to settle at 0.3991 and Inspired Entertainment Inc (NASDAQ: INSE ) which was down 15.03% to 6.50 at the close.

Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 1717 to 1379 and 123 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1686 fell and 839 advanced, while 118 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.

The CBOE Volatility Index , which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was up 3.33% to 11.47.

In commodities trading, Gold Futures for February delivery was up 1.61% or 21.50 to $1358.20 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in March rose 2.20% or 1.42 to hit $65.89 a barrel, while the March Brent oil contract rose 1.10% or 0.77 to trade at $70.73 a barrel.

EUR/USD was up 0.83% to 1.2400, while USD/JPY fell 1.05% to 109.17.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.92% at 89.05.