U.S. stocks mixed at close of trade; Dow Jones Industrial Average up 0.04%

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

At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.04%, while the S&P 500 index fell 0.09%, and the NASDAQ Composite index fell 0.12%.

The best performers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Boeing Co (NYSE:BA), which rose 2.56% or 4.42 points to trade at 177.04 at the close. Meanwhile, American Express Company (NYSE:AXP) added 1.84% or 5.30 points to end at 293.08 and International Business Machines (NYSE:IBM) was up 1.70% or 3.75 points to 223.92 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were Home Depot Inc (NYSE:HD), which fell 2.23% or 8.80 points to trade at 385.02 at the close. Unitedhealth Group (NYSE:UNH) declined 2.10% or 10.47 points to end at 489.25 and Chevron Corp (NYSE:CVX) was down 2.04% or 2.94 points to 141.14.

The top performers on the S&P 500 were Darden Restaurants Inc (NYSE:DRI) which rose 14.74% to 183.44, Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) which was up 7.06% to settle at 372.16 and GE Vernova LLC (NYSE:GEV) which gained 4.94% to close at 332.80.

The worst performers were Lamb Weston Holdings Inc (NYSE:LW) which was down 20.10% to 62.50 in late trade, Micron Technology Inc (NASDAQ:MU) which lost 16.18% to settle at 87.09 and Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:VRTX) which was down 11.37% to 396.64 at the close.

The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Painreform Ltd (NASDAQ:PRFX) which rose 409.59% to 11.16, Nvni Group Ltd (NASDAQ:NVNI) which was up 317.19% to settle at 2.67 and Bio Path Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:BPTH) which gained 122.72% to close at 1.49.

The worst performers were Snow Lake Resources Ltd (NASDAQ:LITM) which was down 63.14% to 0.30 in late trade, Blue Star Foods Corp (NASDAQ:BSFC) which lost 48.21% to settle at 0.15 and Quantum Computing Inc (NASDAQ:QUBT) which was down 41.04% to 15.14 at the close.

Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the New York Stock Exchange by 1810 to 1020 and 55 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1819 fell and 1451 advanced, while 137 ended unchanged.

Shares in Darden Restaurants Inc (NYSE:DRI) rose to all time highs; up 14.74% or 23.57 to 183.44. Shares in Blue Star Foods Corp (NASDAQ:BSFC) fell to all time lows; falling 48.21% or 0.14 to 0.15.

The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 12.78% to 24.09.

Gold Futures for February delivery was down 1.61% or 42.76 to $2,610.54 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in January fell 1.93% or 1.36 to hit $69.22 a barrel, while the February Brent oil contract fell 1.02% or 0.75 to trade at $72.64 a barrel.

EUR/USD was unchanged 0.11% to 1.04, while USD/JPY rose 1.65% to 157.35.

The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.36% at 108.14.