Investing.com – U.S. equities were lower at the close on Thursday, as losses in the Technology, Consumer Services and Healthcare sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 2.06% to hit a new 6-month low, while the S&P 500 index fell 2.11%, and the NASDAQ Composite index declined 2.82%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Wal-Mart Stores Inc (NYSE:WMT), which fell 0.20% or 0.14 points to trade at 68.43 at the close. Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) fell 0.28% or 0.21 points to end at 73.91 and Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) was down 0.52% or 0.52 points to 98.79 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS), which lost 6.04% or 6.43 points to trade at 100.02 in late trade. Merck & Company Inc (NYSE:MRK) declined 4.54% or 2.71 points to end at 56.95 and Boeing Company (NYSE:BA) shed 3.99% or 5.70 points to 137.02.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE:LLY) which rose 4.25% to 87.33, Hormel Foods Corporation (NYSE:HRL) which was up 3.87% to settle at 63.59 and Newmont Mining Corporation (NYSE:NEM) which gained 3.46% to close at 18.55.
The worst performers were Analog Devices Inc (NASDAQ:ADI) which was down 7.81% to 53.82 in late trade, Netflix Inc (NASDAQ:NFLX) which lost 7.79% to settle at 112.55 and Micron Technology Inc (NASDAQ:MU) which was down 7.30% to 14.74 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Apricus Biosciences Inc (NASDAQ:APRI) which rose 17.07% to 1.440, Nortek Inc (NASDAQ:NTK) which was up 17.02% to settle at 86.78 and Tech Data Corporation (NASDAQ:TECD) which gained 13.12% to close at 63.65.
The worst performers were Macrocure Ltd (NASDAQ:MCUR) which was down 75.27% to 2.98 in late trade, Targacept Inc (NASDAQ:TRGT) which gained 54.66% to settle at 0.96 and Sfx Enterta (NASDAQ:SFXE) which was down 24.41% to 0.79 at the close.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 2161 to 303 and 2 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 2179 fell and 396 advanced, while 7 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was up 25.38% to 19.12 a new 1-month high.
In commodities trading, Gold for December delivery was up 2.20% or 24.80 to $1152.70 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in October fell 1.37% or 0.56 to hit $40.70 a barrel, while the October Brent oil contract fell 2.30% or 1.08 to trade at $46.08 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 1.05% to 1.1236, while USD/JPY fell 0.33% to 123.39.
The US Dollar Index was down 0.68% at 95.77.