Investing.com – U.S. equities were lower at the close on Thursday, as losses in the Oil & Gas, Consumer Services and Healthcare sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 0.30%, while the S&P 500 index lost 0.24%, and the NASDAQ Composite index fell 0.58%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Nike Inc (NYSE:NKE), which rose 1.50% or 1.36 points to trade at 92.17 at the close. Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) added 1.05% or 1.29 points to end at 124.31 and Merck & Company Inc (NYSE:MRK) was up 0.94% or 0.78 points to 83.88 in late trade.
Biggest losers included UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH), which lost 3.01% or 6.69 points to trade at 215.48 in late trade. Chevron Corp (NYSE:CVX) declined 2.71% or 3.35 points to end at 120.16 and Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) shed 1.63% or 2.14 points to 128.85.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were ConAgra Foods Inc (NYSE:CAG) which rose 3.68% to 31.00, Whirlpool Corporation (NYSE:WHR) which was up 2.98% to settle at 154.84 and AbbVie Inc (NYSE:ABBV) which gained 2.69% to close at 74.03.
The worst performers were Carnival Corporation (NYSE:CCL) which was down 8.55% to 43.95 in late trade, Nektar Therapeutics (NASDAQ:NKTR) which lost 6.60% to settle at 17.56 and Centene Corp (NYSE:CNC) which was down 4.85% to 43.13 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Precipio Inc (NASDAQ:PRPO) which rose 50.00% to 3.2700, Ameri Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:AMRH) which was up 31.42% to settle at 0.20 and Marinus Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:MRNS) which gained 23.36% to close at 1.69.
The worst performers were Enlivex Therapeutics Ltd (NASDAQ:ENLV) which was down 23.84% to 27.700 in late trade, BioXcel Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:BTAI) which lost 23.55% to settle at 7.50 and PDS Biotechnology Corp (NASDAQ:PDSB) which was down 22.86% to 3.4329 at the close.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 1646 to 1233 and 81 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1843 fell and 773 advanced, while 76 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was up 0.69% to 16.07.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for December delivery was down 0.04% or 0.55 to $1511.75 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in November rose 0.07% or 0.04 to hit $56.53 a barrel, while the November Brent oil contract fell 0.13% or 0.08 to trade at $62.54 a barrel.
EUR/USD was down 0.02% to 1.0919, while USD/JPY rose 0.01% to 107.83.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.16% at 98.812.