Investing.com – U.S. equities were lower at the close on Thursday, as losses in the Industrials, Basic Materials and Utilities sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 0.07%, while the S&P 500 index lost 0.02%, and the NASDAQ Composite index lost 0.06%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ), which rose 1.53% or 1.89 points to trade at 125.99 at the close. Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) added 0.63% or 0.23 points to end at 35.84 and The Travelers Companies Inc (NYSE:TRV) was up 0.60% or 0.73 points to 121.97 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Caterpillar Inc (NYSE:CAT), which lost 2.20% or 2.06 points to trade at 91.17 in late trade. International Business Machines (NYSE:IBM) declined 1.47% or 2.63 points to end at 176.82 and Boeing Co (NYSE:BA) shed 0.62% or 1.12 points to 180.62.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Signet Jewelers Ltd (NYSE:SIG) which rose 8.88% to 70.12, Marathon Oil Corporation (NYSE:MRO) which was up 6.25% to settle at 15.80 and Frontier Communications Corporation (NASDAQ:FTR) which gained 4.82% to close at 2.61.
The worst performers were Staples Inc (NASDAQ:SPLS) which was down 5.07% to 8.51 in late trade, Transocean Ltd (NYSE:RIG) which lost 4.11% to settle at 11.89 and American Airlines Group (NASDAQ:AAL) which was down 3.60% to 43.27 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Ocera Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:OCRX) which rose 61.82% to 1.780, Celsion Corp (NASDAQ:CLSN) which was up 24.55% to settle at 0.275 and Comtech Telecommunications Corp (NASDAQ:CMTL) which gained 23.58% to close at 13.76.
The worst performers were Gordmans Stores Inc (NASDAQ:GMAN) which was down 27.28% to 0.110 in late trade, Atlantic Alliance Partnership Corp (NASDAQ:AAPC) which lost 23.84% to settle at 9.52 and China Auto Logistics Inc (NASDAQ:CALI) which was down 23.50% to 1.530 at the close.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 2295 to 860 and 58 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1399 fell and 1058 advanced, while 132 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was up 2.45% to 12.15.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for April delivery was down 0.59% or 7.15 to $1202.25 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in April fell 1.29% or 0.65 to hit $49.63 a barrel, while the May Brent oil contract fell 1.19% or 0.63 to trade at $52.48 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.46% to 1.0590, while USD/JPY rose 0.51% to 114.92.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.23% at 101.88.