Investing.com – U.S. equities were lower at the close on Thursday, as losses in the Basic Materials, Financials and Oil & Gas sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 0.11%, while the S&P 500 index fell 0.17%, and the NASDAQ Composite index fell 0.32%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Nike Inc (NYSE:NKE), which rose 1.52% or 0.82 points to trade at 54.94 at the close. Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) added 1.01% or 1.18 points to end at 117.00 and Verizon Communications Inc (NYSE:VZ) was up 0.83% or 0.43 points to 51.95 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Caterpillar Inc (NYSE:CAT), which lost 1.22% or 0.95 points to trade at 77.16 in late trade. Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE:GS) declined 0.95% or 1.47 points to end at 153.17 and American Express Company (NYSE:AXP) shed 0.83% or 0.55 points to 65.71.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were JM Smucker Company (NYSE:SJM) which rose 7.93% to 143.23, Southwestern Energy Company (NYSE:SWN) which was up 4.39% to settle at 14.74 and Range Resources Corporation (NYSE:RRC) which gained 3.91% to close at 46.21.
The worst performers were NRG Energy Inc (NYSE:NRG) which was down 6.69% to 16.59 in late trade, Freeport-McMoran Copper & Gold Inc (NYSE:FCX) which lost 5.87% to settle at 10.90 and Best Buy Co Inc (NYSE:BBY) which was down 4.20% to 30.10 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Jaguar Animal Health Inc (NASDAQ:JAGX) which rose 76.52% to 2.330, Bellerophon Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:BLPH) which was up 52.79% to settle at 3.010 and Prism Technologies Group Inc (NASDAQ:PRZM) which gained 52.04% to close at 0.3801.
The worst performers were Bridgeline Digita (NASDAQ:BLIN) which was down 28.39% to 1.1100 in late trade, Gevo Inc (NASDAQ:GEVO) which lost 27.06% to settle at 0.7000 and Health Insurance Innovations Inc (NASDAQ:HIIQ) which was down 26.35% to 5.170 at the close.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 2018 to 1290 and 38 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1750 fell and 802 advanced, while 66 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was up 3.76% to 14.61.
In commodities trading, Gold for August delivery was up 0.76% or 9.65 to $1271.95 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in July fell 1.50% or 0.77 to hit $50.46 a barrel, while the August Brent oil contract fell 1.20% or 0.63 to trade at $51.88 a barrel.
EUR/USD was down 0.68% to 1.1317, while USD/JPY rose 0.08% to 107.08.
The US Dollar Index was up 0.51% at 94.07.