Investing.com – U.S. equities were lower at the close on Friday, as losses in the Oil & Gas, Technology and Basic Materials sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 2.54%, while the S&P 500 index fell 2.12%, and the NASDAQ Composite index lost 1.96%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Pfizer Inc (NYSE:PFE), which fell 0.60% or 0.22 points to trade at 36.61 at the close. Nike Inc (NYSE:NKE) fell 0.64% or 0.43 points to end at 67.22 and Wal-Mart Stores Inc (NYSE:WMT) was down 0.99% or 1.04 points to 104.48 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Chevron Corporation (NYSE:CVX), which lost 5.57% or 6.99 points to trade at 118.58 in late trade. Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE:XOM) declined 5.10% or 4.54 points to end at 84.53 and Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE:GS) shed 4.48% or 12.19 points to 260.04.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Mattel Inc (NASDAQ:MAT) which rose 7.90% to 16.53, Motorola Solutions Inc (NYSE:MSI) which was up 4.79% to settle at 103.87 and Charter Communications Inc (NASDAQ:CHTR) which gained 4.33% to close at 387.25.
The worst performers were Freeport-McMoran Copper & Gold Inc (NYSE:FCX) which was down 7.61% to 17.97 in late trade, Fortune Brands Home & Security Inc (NYSE:FBHS) which lost 7.05% to settle at 64.90 and Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX) which was down 6.71% to 130.91 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Akers Biosciences Inc (NASDAQ:AKER) which rose 37.12% to 0.495, Actua Corp (NASDAQ:ACTA) which was up 28.79% to settle at 0.85 and USA Truck Inc (NASDAQ:USAK) which gained 24.45% to close at 24.99.
The worst performers were Cenveo Inc (NASDAQ:CVO) which was down 66.50% to 0.472 in late trade, Impinj Inc (NASDAQ:PI) which lost 46.81% to settle at 12.16 and Aceto Corporation (NASDAQ:ACET) which was down 27.41% to 7.92 at the close.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 2839 to 342 and 49 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 2130 fell and 420 advanced, while 109 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was up 27.39% to 17.16 a new 52-week high.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for April delivery was down 1.05% or 14.10 to $1333.80 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in March fell 1.09% or 0.72 to hit $65.08 a barrel, while the April Brent oil contract fell 1.51% or 1.05 to trade at $68.60 a barrel.
EUR/USD was down 0.45% to 1.2458, while USD/JPY rose 0.69% to 110.17.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.62% at 89.03.