Investing.com – U.S. equities were lower at the close on Thursday, as losses in the Telecoms, Industrials and Financials sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 0.06%, while the S&P 500 index declined 0.04%, and the NASDAQ Composite index fell 0.16%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Merck & Company Inc (NYSE:MRK), which rose 3.14% or 1.95 points to trade at 64.05 at the close. Cisco Systems Inc (NASDAQ:CSCO) added 2.31% or 0.70 points to end at 31.20 and The Travelers Companies Inc (NYSE:TRV) was up 0.94% or 1.10 points to 117.64 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Caterpillar Inc (NYSE:CAT), which lost 1.51% or 1.44 points to trade at 93.67 in late trade. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) declined 1.33% or 2.16 points to end at 160.55 and Boeing Co (NYSE:BA) shed 0.91% or 1.50 points to 162.47.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Mead Johnson Nutrition Company (NYSE:MJN) which rose 22.09% to 84.85, Macy’s Inc (NYSE:M) which was up 5.14% to settle at 30.71 and Citrix Systems Inc (NASDAQ:CTXS) which gained 5.00% to close at 74.80.
The worst performers were Ralph Lauren Corporation (NYSE:RL) which was down 12.19% to 76.72 in late trade, E-TRADE Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:ETFC) which lost 9.69% to settle at 33.94 and Edwards Lifesciences Corporation (NYSE:EW) which was down 8.77% to 89.42 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Benitec Biopharma Ltd (NASDAQ:BNTC) which rose 130.81% to 3.6930, Naked Brand Group Inc (NASDAQ:NAKD) which was up 127.35% to settle at 2.660 and Tenax Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:TENX) which gained 53.56% to close at 0.875.
The worst performers were Vanguard Natural Resources LLC (NASDAQ:VNR) which was down 63.09% to 0.365 in late trade, Stemline Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:STML) which lost 39.49% to settle at 5.900 and China Customer Relations Centers Inc (NASDAQ:CCRC) which was down 21.84% to 14.28 at the close.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 1640 to 1484 and 89 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1383 fell and 1066 advanced, while 130 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was up 1.52% to 11.99.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for April delivery was up 0.76% or 9.15 to $1217.45 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in March fell 0.48% or 0.26 to hit $53.62 a barrel, while the April Brent oil contract fell 0.30% or 0.17 to trade at $56.63 a barrel.
EUR/USD was down 0.07% to 1.0761, while USD/JPY fell 0.49% to 112.68.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.11% at 99.80.