U.S. shares mixed at close of trade; Dow Jones Industrial Average up 0.33%

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

At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.33% to hit a new all time high, while the S&P 500 index declined 0.05%, and the NASDAQ Composite index gained 0.20%.

The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Caterpillar Inc (NYSE: CAT ), which rose 3.59% or 5.15 points to trade at 148.57 at the close. Nike Inc (NYSE: NKE ) added 3.43% or 2.13 points to end at 64.30 and Coca-Cola Company (NYSE: KO ) was up 1.35% or 0.61 points to 45.90 in late trade.

Biggest losers included International Business Machines (NYSE: IBM ), which lost 1.81% or 2.83 points to trade at 153.91 in late trade. American Express Company (NYSE: AXP ) declined 1.60% or 1.59 points to end at 97.78 and JPMorgan Chase & Co (NYSE: JPM ) shed 1.25% or 1.34 points to 105.51.

The top performers on the S&P 500 were CenturyLink Inc (NYSE: CTL ) which rose 6.69% to 16.75, Mattel Inc (NASDAQ: MAT ) which was up 6.63% to settle at 15.59 and Coty Inc (NYSE: COTY ) which gained 4.30% to close at 19.42.

The worst performers were Archer-Daniels-Midland Company (NYSE: ADM ) which was down 4.12% to 40.05 in late trade, Twenty-First Century Fox Inc A (NASDAQ: FOXA ) which lost 3.96% to settle at 32.75 and Ralph Lauren Corporation (NYSE: RL ) which was down 3.91% to 96.22 at the close.

The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were CounterPath Corp (NASDAQ: CPAH ) which rose 57.66% to 3.500, Wins Finance Holdings Inc (NASDAQ: WINS ) which was up 49.48% to settle at 76.62 and Female Health Co (NASDAQ: VERU ) which gained 41.00% to close at 1.410.

The worst performers were Helios and Matheson Analytics Inc (NASDAQ: HMNY ) which was down 32.64% to 6.790 in late trade, PhaseRx Inc (NASDAQ: PZRX ) which lost 21.26% to settle at 0.43 and LM Funding America Inc (NASDAQ: LMFA ) which was down 21.07% to 2.51 at the close.

Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 1764 to 1330 and 140 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1508 rose and 1000 declined, while 136 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.

The CBOE Volatility Index , which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was up 2.32% to 10.15.

In commodities trading, Gold Futures for February delivery was up 1.34% or 16.70 to $1258.40 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in January fell 0.72% or 0.41 to hit $56.73 a barrel, while the February Brent oil contract fell 1.20% or 0.76 to trade at $62.58 a barrel.

EUR/USD was up 0.72% to 1.1826, while USD/JPY fell 0.91% to 112.52.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.69% at 93.41.