Investing.com – U.S. equities were lower at the close on Thursday, as losses in the Healthcare, Industrials and Financials sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 0.48%, while the S&P 500 index declined 0.34%, and the NASDAQ Composite index fell 0.38%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG), which rose 1.57% or 1.10 points to trade at 71.36 at the close. Chevron Corporation (NYSE:CVX) added 1.01% or 0.77 points to end at 76.89 and Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO) was up 1.01% or 0.39 points to 39.15 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Caterpillar Inc (NYSE:CAT), which lost 6.27% or 4.40 points to trade at 65.80 in late trade. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) declined 1.78% or 2.19 points to end at 121.09 and Boeing Company (NYSE:BA) shed 1.46% or 1.92 points to 129.75.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Newmont Mining Corporation (NYSE:NEM) which rose 7.91% to 16.78, Netflix Inc (NASDAQ:NFLX) which was up 5.86% to settle at 103.82 and ConAgra Foods Inc (NYSE:CAG) which gained 3.97% to close at 41.07.
The worst performers were Caterpillar Inc (NYSE:CAT) which was down 6.27% to 65.80 in late trade, Transocean Ltd (NYSE:RIG) which lost 4.76% to settle at 13.01 and Tenet Healthcare Corporation (NYSE:THC) which was down 4.50% to 42.44 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Neuralstem Inc (NASDAQ:CUR) which rose 26.14% to 1.930, PhotoMedex Inc (NASDAQ:PHMD) which was up 25.00% to settle at 0.65 and Vital Thera (NASDAQ:VTL) which gained 23.82% to close at 4.73.
The worst performers were Sientra Inc (NASDAQ:SIEN) which was down 52.87% to 9.70 in late trade, Pendrell Corporation (NASDAQ:PCO) which lost 33.45% to settle at 0.885 and China TechFaith Wireless (NASDAQ:CNTF) which was down 26.12% to 0.605 at the close.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 1466 to 1074 and 1 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1409 fell and 1136 advanced, while 61 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was up 5.56% to 23.36.
In commodities trading, Gold for December delivery was up 1.85% or 20.90 to $1152.40 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in November rose 1.37% or 0.61 to hit $45.09 a barrel, while the November Brent oil contract rose 1.11% or 0.53 to trade at $48.28 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.34% to 1.1223, while USD/JPY fell 0.21% to 120.02.
The US Dollar Index was down 0.30% at 96.11.