Investing.com – U.S. equities were lower at the close on Thursday, as losses in the Oil & Gas, Technology and Basic Materials sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 4.42% to hit a new 6-month low, while the S&P 500 index lost 4.42%, and the NASDAQ Composite index declined 4.61%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were 3M Company (NYSE:MMM), which rose 0.81% or 1.20 points to trade at 150.16 at the close. Pfizer Inc (NYSE:PFE) fell 1.79% or 0.62 points to end at 34.10 and Merck & Company Inc (NYSE:MRK) was down 2.33% or 1.86 points to 78.08 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT), which lost 7.05% or 11.99 points to trade at 158.18 in late trade. Dow Inc (NYSE:DOW) declined 6.61% or 2.80 points to end at 39.55 and Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) shed 6.54% or 19.13 points to 273.52.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Quanta Services Inc (NYSE:PWR) which rose 6.31% to 39.42, Apache Corporation (NYSE:APA) which was up 2.62% to settle at 25.07 and Hanesbrands Inc (NYSE:HBI) which gained 1.50% to close at 12.86.
The worst performers were FLIR Systems Inc (NASDAQ:FLIR) which was down 17.87% to 44.42 in late trade, Perrigo Company PLC (NYSE:PRGO) which lost 14.27% to settle at 51.82 and Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc (NYSE:CMG) which was down 10.83% to 755.55 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Allied Healthcare Products Inc (NASDAQ:AHPI) which rose 321.74% to 15.520, Tonix Pharmaceuticals Holding Corp (NASDAQ:TNXP) which was up 92.22% to settle at 1.730 and Co-Diagnostics Inc (NASDAQ:CODX) which gained 79.33% to close at 15.960.
The worst performers were Nutanix Inc (NASDAQ:NTNX) which was down 28.59% to 23.30 in late trade, Priority Technology Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:PRTH) which lost 27.93% to settle at 1.600 and Cocrystal Pharma Inc (NASDAQ:COCP) which was down 27.68% to 1.2800 at the close.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 2605 to 284 and 27 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 2319 fell and 383 advanced, while 40 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was up 42.09% to 39.16 a new 3-year high.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for April delivery was up 0.19% or 3.20 to $1646.30 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in April fell 4.99% or 2.43 to hit $46.30 a barrel, while the May Brent oil contract fell 0.22% or 0.11 to trade at $50.91 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.04% to 1.1002, while USD/JPY fell 0.01% to 109.56.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.57% at 98.375.