Investing.com – U.S. equities were lower at the close on Friday, as losses in the Utilities, Healthcare and Telecoms sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.25%, while the S&P 500 index declined 0.62%, and the NASDAQ Composite index lost 0.74%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Boeing Co (NYSE:BA), which rose 4.48% or 16.18 points to trade at 377.29 at the close. Caterpillar Inc (NYSE:CAT) added 1.76% or 2.36 points to end at 136.22 and United Technologies Corporation (NYSE:UTX) was up 0.94% or 1.23 points to 132.53 in late trade.
Biggest losers included American Express Company (NYSE:AXP), which lost 2.79% or 3.58 points to trade at 124.82 in late trade. The Travelers Companies Inc (NYSE:TRV) declined 1.64% or 2.50 points to end at 150.21 and UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) shed 1.58% or 4.13 points to 256.47.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were State Street Corp (NYSE:STT) which rose 6.72% to 60.07, Citizens Financial Group Inc (NYSE:CFG) which was up 6.34% to settle at 36.81 and Kansas City Southern (NYSE:KSU) which gained 4.64% to close at 123.46.
The worst performers were Alliance Data Systems Corp (NYSE:ADS) which was down 4.06% to 151.59 in late trade, Pacific Gas & Electric Co (NYSE:PCG) which lost 3.60% to settle at 17.80 and Gilead Sciences Inc (NASDAQ:GILD) which was down 3.23% to 65.04 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Midatech Pharma PLC ADR (NASDAQ:MTP) which rose 43.08% to 1.860, Akari Therapeutics PLC (NASDAQ:AKTX) which was up 17.80% to settle at 2.250 and Diversicare Healthcare Services Inc (NASDAQ:DVCR) which gained 17.30% to close at 3.69.
The worst performers were ARC Group Worldwide Inc (NASDAQ:ARCW) which was down 32.43% to 0.250 in late trade, Neuralstem Inc (NASDAQ:CUR) which lost 30.59% to settle at 5.9000 and MYnd Analytics Inc (NASDAQ:EMMA) which was down 28.57% to 7.00 at the close.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 1742 to 1262 and 27 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1584 fell and 1034 advanced, while 116 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was up 6.80% to 14.45.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for August delivery was down 0.13% or 1.80 to $1426.30 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in August rose 0.81% or 0.45 to hit $55.75 a barrel, while the September Brent oil contract rose 1.47% or 0.91 to trade at $62.84 a barrel.
EUR/USD was down 0.47% to 1.1222, while USD/JPY rose 0.39% to 107.70.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.38% at 96.817.