U.S. shares mixed at close of trade; Dow Jones Industrial Average up 0.29%

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

At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.29%, while the S&P 500 index fell 0.02%, and the NASDAQ Composite index declined 0.39%.

The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE: PG ), which rose 2.62% or 2.46 points to trade at 96.49 at the close. McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE: MCD ) added 1.61% or 2.95 points to end at 186.43 and Merck & Company Inc (NYSE: MRK ) was up 1.28% or 1.00 points to 79.01 in late trade.

Biggest losers included Nike Inc (NYSE: NKE ), which lost 1.87% or 1.39 points to trade at 72.93 in late trade. DowDuPont Inc (NYSE: DWDP ) declined 1.05% or 0.57 points to end at 53.78 and American Express Company (NYSE: AXP ) shed 0.73% or 0.78 points to 106.70.

The top performers on the S&P 500 were General Electric Company (NYSE: GE ) which rose 7.30% to 7.20, Aflac Incorporated (NYSE: AFL ) which was up 6.64% to settle at 45.75 and Kimberly-Clark Corporation (NYSE: KMB ) which gained 3.93% to close at 118.40.

The worst performers were Monster Beverage Corp (NASDAQ: MNST ) which was down 6.98% to 53.43 in late trade, Hanesbrands Inc (NYSE: HBI ) which lost 6.63% to settle at 13.80 and Under Armour Inc C (NYSE: UA ) which was down 6.31% to 17.810 at the close.

The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Adial Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ: ADIL ) which rose 104.93% to 4.16, Cancer Genetics Inc (NASDAQ: CGIX ) which was up 55.32% to settle at 0.365 and Pernix Therapeutics Holdings Inc (NASDAQ: PTX ) which gained 22.86% to close at 0.430.

The worst performers were Applied Genetic (NASDAQ: AGTC ) which was down 47.10% to 3.47 in late trade, CounterPath Corp (NASDAQ: CPAH ) which lost 22.53% to settle at 1.410 and LogicBio Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ: LOGC ) which was down 21.77% to 9.70 at the close.

Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 1975 to 1089 and 98 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 2006 fell and 653 advanced, while 55 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.

The CBOE Volatility Index , which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 3.77% to 20.65.

In commodities trading, Gold Futures for February delivery was down 0.25% or 3.15 to $1246.85 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in January rose 3.85% or 1.97 to hit $53.12 a barrel, while the February Brent oil contract rose 2.86% or 1.72 to trade at $61.87 a barrel.

EUR/USD was down 0.05% to 1.1362, while USD/JPY rose 0.27% to 113.59.

The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.05% at 97.070.