Investing.com – U.S. equities were lower at the close on Thursday, as losses in the Basic Materials, Oil & Gas and Technology sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 0.27%, while the S&P 500 index lost 0.28%, and the NASDAQ Composite index lost 0.29%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Boeing Co (NYSE:BA), which rose 1.04% or 4.52 points to trade at 439.96 at the close. Pfizer Inc (NYSE:PFE) added 0.98% or 0.42 points to end at 43.35 and McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE:MCD) was up 0.90% or 1.64 points to 183.84 in late trade.
Biggest losers included UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH), which lost 3.14% or 7.86 points to trade at 242.22 in late trade. DowDuPont Inc (NYSE:DWDP) declined 2.72% or 1.49 points to end at 53.23 and Caterpillar Inc (NYSE:CAT) shed 1.60% or 2.24 points to 137.34.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Monster Beverage Corp (NASDAQ:MNST) which rose 8.67% to 63.83, Universal Health Services Inc (NYSE:UHS) which was up 4.26% to settle at 138.83 and Southwest Airlines Company (NYSE:LUV) which gained 4.07% to close at 56.04.
The worst performers were HP Inc (NYSE:HPQ) which was down 17.27% to 19.73 in late trade, Booking Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:BKNG) which lost 10.96% to settle at 1697.04 and Celgene Corporation (NASDAQ:CELG) which was down 8.65% to 83.12 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were PHI Inc (NASDAQ:PHIIK) which rose 67.20% to 3.11, Arcadia Biosciences Inc (NASDAQ:RKDA) which was up 49.07% to settle at 8.050 and Sequential (NASDAQ:SQBG) which gained 40.00% to close at 1.68.
The worst performers were Novavax Inc (NASDAQ:NVAX) which was down 66.90% to 0.705 in late trade, Midatech Pharma PLC (NASDAQ:MTP) which lost 30.38% to settle at 0.550 and TDH Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:PETZ) which was down 28.33% to 0.50 at the close.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 1661 to 1317 and 125 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1508 fell and 1125 advanced, while 95 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 0.87% to 14.78.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for April delivery was down 0.50% or 6.55 to $1314.65 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in April rose 0.58% or 0.33 to hit $57.27 a barrel, while the May Brent oil contract unchanged 0.00% or 0.00 to trade at $66.41 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.02% to 1.1372, while USD/JPY rose 0.01% to 111.39.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.09% at 96.120.