Investing.com – U.S. equities were lower at the close on Thursday, as losses in the Financials, Healthcare and Basic Materials sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in New York, the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.16%, while the S&P 500 index fell 0.03%, and the NASDAQ Composite index fell 0.08%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC), which rose 1.24% or 0.38 points to trade at 30.55 at the close. Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE:XOM) added 0.93% or 0.77 points to end at 83.14 and Visa Inc (NYSE:V) was up 0.57% or 0.39 points to 68.24 in late trade.
Biggest losers included EI du Pont de Nemours and Company (NYSE:DD), which lost 2.34% or 1.44 points to trade at 59.99 in late trade. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) declined 1.27% or 1.57 points to end at 121.81 and United Technologies Corporation (NYSE:UTX) shed 1.14% or 1.26 points to 109.56.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were CONSOL Energy Inc (NYSE:CNX) which rose 4.11% to 21.79, Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:VRTX) which was up 4.02% to settle at 131.26 and Tesoro Corporation (NYSE:TSO) which gained 3.02% to close at 91.21.
The worst performers were Western Union Company (NYSE:WU) which was down 6.87% to 18.99 in late trade, NiSource Inc (NYSE:NI) which lost 4.87% to settle at 16.99 and Humana Inc (NYSE:HUM) which was down 2.92% to 187.50 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Glori Energy Technology Inc (NASDAQ:GLRI) which rose 46.67% to 1.760, Local Corporation (NASDAQ:LOCM) which was up 45.57% to settle at 0.092 and Xoom Corporation (NASDAQ:XOOM) which gained 21.01% to close at 25.050.
The worst performers were WPCS International Incorporated (NASDAQ:WPCS) which was down 33.77% to 2.000 in late trade, Vitae Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:VTAE) which lost 17.41% to settle at 12.33 and Axion Power International Inc (NASDAQ:AXPW) which was down 14.34% to 0.092 at the close.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 1721 to 1350 and 4 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1774 fell and 1009 advanced, while 3 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was up 4.10% to 16.75.
In commodities trading, Gold for August delivery was down 0.29% or 3.40 to $1165.90 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in August fell 0.72% or 0.41 to hit $56.55 a barrel, while the August Brent oil contract fell 0.31% or 0.19 to trade at $61.82 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.28% to 1.1084, while USD/JPY fell 0.07% to 123.08.
The US Dollar Index was down 0.20% at 96.28.