Investing.com – U.S. equities were lower at the close on Thursday, as losses in the Utilities, Consumer Services and Consumer Goods sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in New York, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.23%, while the S&P 500 index lost 0.24%, and the NASDAQ Composite index lost 0.27%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were International Business Machines (NYSE:IBM), which rose 0.88% or 1.40 points to trade at 160.60 at the close. Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) added 0.70% or 0.86 points to end at 124.24 and Wal-Mart Stores Inc (NYSE:WMT) was up 0.69% or 0.56 points to 81.88 in late trade.
Biggest losers included American Express Company (NYSE:AXP), which lost 2.00% or 1.60 points to trade at 78.51 in late trade. Cisco Systems Inc (NASDAQ:CSCO) declined 1.35% or 0.37 points to end at 27.09 and Merck & Company Inc (NYSE:MRK) shed 1.15% or 0.67 points to 57.59.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Red Hat Inc (NYSE:RHT) which rose 10.11% to 75.37, Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) which was up 6.75% to settle at 94.16 and Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide (NYSE:HOT) which gained 3.85% to close at 84.78.
The worst performers were SanDisk Corporation (NASDAQ:SNDK) which was down 18.45% to 66.20 in late trade, CONSOL Energy Inc (NYSE:CNX) which lost 5.57% to settle at 27.41 and Coach Inc (NYSE:COH) which was down 3.58% to 40.69 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Lime Energy Co (NASDAQ:LIME) which rose 18.69% to 4.000, Conatus Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:CNAT) which was up 17.36% to settle at 6.76 and Forward Industries Inc (NASDAQ:FORD) which gained 15.38% to close at 0.900.
The worst performers were SanDisk Corporation (NASDAQ:SNDK) which was down 18.45% to 66.20 in late trade, Joes Jeans Inc (NASDAQ:JOEZ) which lost 17.61% to settle at 0.200 and Kingtone Wirelessinfo Solution (NASDAQ:KONE) which was down 17.56% to 2.770 at the close.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 1730 to 1074; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1491 fell and 1279 advanced, while 6 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was up 2.33% to 15.80.
In commodities trading, Gold for April delivery was up 0.55% or 6.60 to $1203.60 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in May rose 4.24% or 2.08 to hit $51.30 a barrel, while the May Brent oil contract rose 4.63% or 2.62 to trade at $59.09 a barrel.
EUR/USD was down 0.75% to 1.0888, while USD/JPY fell 0.24% to 119.19.
The US Dollar Index was up 0.49% at 97.55.