Investing.com – U.S. equities were lower at the close on Thursday, as losses in the Oil & Gas, Financials and Telecoms sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 2.13% to hit a new 1-month low, while the S&P 500 index lost 2.06%, and the NASDAQ Composite index fell 1.25%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT), which fell 0.24% or 0.25 points to trade at 105.91 at the close. DowDuPont Inc (NYSE:DWDP) fell 0.57% or 0.34 points to end at 58.98 and Nike Inc (NYSE:NKE) was down 0.57% or 0.43 points to 74.51 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Pfizer Inc (NYSE:PFE), which lost 3.82% or 1.70 points to trade at 42.81 in late trade. Exxon Mobil Corp (NYSE:XOM) declined 3.45% or 2.92 points to end at 81.60 and Chevron Corp (NYSE:CVX) shed 3.40% or 4.17 points to 118.43.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Newmont Mining Corporation (NYSE:NEM) which rose 7.07% to 32.72, L Brands Inc (NYSE:LB) which was up 5.93% to settle at 30.21 and Freeport-McMoran Copper & Gold Inc (NYSE:FCX) which gained 3.60% to close at 13.23.
The worst performers were Fluor Corporation (NYSE:FLR) which was down 17.24% to 46.53 in late trade, CVS Health Corp (NYSE:CVS) which lost 7.26% to settle at 73.19 and Jefferies Financial Group Inc (NYSE:JEF) which was down 6.57% to 20.77 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Avenue Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:ATXI) which rose 60.48% to 3.37, Auris Medical Holding AG (NASDAQ:EARS) which was up 36.00% to settle at 0.680 and Mercantil Bank Holding Corp Class B (NASDAQ:MBNAB) which gained 21.57% to close at 7.44.
The worst performers were China Internet Nationwide Financial Services Inc (NASDAQ:CIFS) which was down 44.28% to 3.02 in late trade, Sears Holdings Corporation (NASDAQ:SHLD) which lost 29.70% to settle at 0.34 and National American University (NASDAQ:NAUH) which was down 13.97% to 0.727 at the close.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 2428 to 667 and 65 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1908 fell and 733 advanced, while 83 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was up 7.71% to 24.73 a new 6-month high.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for December delivery was up 2.87% or 34.20 to $1227.60 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in November fell 3.13% or 2.29 to hit $70.88 a barrel, while the December Brent oil contract fell 3.49% or 2.90 to trade at $80.19 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.65% to 1.1597, while USD/JPY fell 0.17% to 112.09.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.56% at 94.69.