Investing.com – U.S. equities were lower at the close on Thursday, as losses in the Oil & Gas, Utilities and Financials sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in New York, the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.42%, while the S&P 500 index declined 0.30%, and the NASDAQ Composite index lost 0.20%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH), which rose 2.65% or 3.16 points to trade at 122.33 at the close. Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS) added 0.60% or 0.68 points to end at 114.45 and Verizon Communications Inc (NYSE:VZ) was up 0.32% or 0.15 points to 47.44 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Caterpillar Inc (NYSE:CAT), which lost 1.64% or 1.45 points to trade at 86.72 in late trade. American Express Company (NYSE:AXP) declined 1.07% or 0.86 points to end at 79.88 and 3M Company (NYSE:MMM) shed 1.03% or 1.62 points to 155.92.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Tenet Healthcare Corporation (NYSE:THC) which rose 12.24% to 56.21, Zoetis Inc (NYSE:ZTS) which was up 11.41% to settle at 55.38 and HCA Holdings Inc (NYSE:HCA) which gained 8.82% to close at 90.72.
The worst performers were CenturyLink Inc (NYSE:CTL) which was down 6.15% to 29.92 in late trade, Freeport-McMoran Copper & Gold Inc (NYSE:FCX) which lost 3.99% to settle at 19.74 and Joy Global Inc (NYSE:JOY) which was down 3.93% to 37.41 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Cleveland BioLabs Inc (NASDAQ:CBLI) which rose 90.11% to 5.380, Joes Jeans Inc (NASDAQ:JOEZ) which was up 33.33% to settle at 0.250 and ParkerVision Inc (NASDAQ:PRKR) which gained 21.33% to close at 0.500.
The worst performers were Local Corporation (NASDAQ:LOCM) which was down 50.00% to 0.035 in late trade, World Acceptance Corporation (NASDAQ:WRLD) which lost 22.94% to settle at 63.82 and TigerLogic Corporation (NASDAQ:TIGR) which was down 15.38% to 0.330 at the close.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 2009 to 1122 and 3 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1515 fell and 1317 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 5.81% to 14.03.
In commodities trading, Gold for August delivery was down 0.04% or 0.50 to $1172.40 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in August fell 1.05% or 0.64 to hit $59.63 a barrel, while the August Brent oil contract fell 0.33% or 0.21 to trade at $63.28 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.01% to 1.1204, while USD/JPY fell 0.18% to 123.62.
The US Dollar Index was down 0.08% at 95.37.