Investing.com – U.S. equities were lower at the close on Thursday, as losses in the Healthcare, Utilities and Financials sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1.07%, while the S&P 500 index declined 0.93%, and the NASDAQ Composite index declined 0.93%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Caterpillar Inc (NYSE:CAT), which rose 0.98% or 0.85 points to trade at 87.44 at the close. Verizon Communications Inc (NYSE:VZ) added 0.12% or 0.07 points to end at 52.12 and International Business Machines (NYSE:IBM) was down 0.10% or 0.16 points to 158.13 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE:GS), which lost 2.75% or 4.50 points to trade at 158.95 in late trade. Merck & Company Inc (NYSE:MRK) declined 2.20% or 1.39 points to end at 61.91 and Nike Inc (NYSE:NKE) shed 2.03% or 1.08 points to 52.17.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were ConAgra Foods Inc (NYSE:CAG) which rose 7.26% to 46.26, Qualcomm Incorporated (NASDAQ:QCOM) which was up 6.30% to settle at 67.45 and Transocean Ltd (NYSE:RIG) which gained 5.99% to close at 10.62.
The worst performers were Chesapeake Energy Corporation (NYSE:CHK) which was down 9.41% to 6.115 in late trade, Marathon Petroleum Corporation (NYSE:MPC) which lost 6.85% to settle at 39.72 and Endo International PLC (NASDAQ:ENDP) which was down 6.40% to 20.93 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Catabasis Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:CATB) which rose 39.51% to 6.250, Cosi Inc (NASDAQ:COSI) which was up 32.00% to settle at 0.0726 and Aegerion Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:AEGR) which gained 22.89% to close at 3.06.
The worst performers were Intracellular Th (NASDAQ:ITCI) which was down 63.59% to 15.42 in late trade, Alcobra Ltd (NASDAQ:ADHD) which lost 45.67% to settle at 2.51 and Marinus Pharma (NASDAQ:MRNS) which was down 26.74% to 2.00 at the close.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 2451 to 726 and 66 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1916 fell and 618 advanced, while 73 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was up 14.12% to 14.14.
In commodities trading, Gold for December delivery was up 0.02% or 0.25 to $1323.95 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in November rose 1.49% or 0.70 to hit $47.75 a barrel, while the December Brent oil contract rose 0.93% or 0.46 to trade at $49.70 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.04% to 1.1223, while USD/JPY rose 0.39% to 101.08.
The US Dollar Index was up 0.12% at 95.42.