Investing.com – U.S. equities were lower at the close on Friday, as losses in the Utilities, Telecoms and Consumer Goods sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 4.55% to hit a new 3-year low, while the S&P 500 index declined 4.34%, and the NASDAQ Composite index lost 3.79%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were The Travelers Companies Inc (NYSE:TRV), which rose 4.00% or 3.44 points to trade at 89.51 at the close. Chevron Corp (NYSE:CVX) added 3.48% or 2.00 points to end at 59.39 and Merck & Company Inc (NYSE:MRK) was up 0.89% or 0.63 points to 71.36 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS), which lost 9.43% or 8.95 points to trade at 85.98 in late trade. 3M Company (NYSE:MMM) declined 9.18% or 12.62 points to end at 124.89 and Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO) shed 8.44% or 3.53 points to 38.30.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Carnival Corporation (NYSE:CCL) which rose 20.00% to 12.00, MGM Resorts International (NYSE:MGM) which was up 18.31% to settle at 9.11 and Mosaic Co (NYSE:MOS) which gained 16.67% to close at 9.59.
The worst performers were FLIR Systems Inc (NASDAQ:FLIR) which was down 18.73% to 25.52 in late trade, WEC Energy Group Inc (NYSE:WEC) which lost 18.05% to settle at 74.09 and Arconic Inc (NYSE:ARNC) which was down 16.40% to 13.25 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Bellerophon Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:BLPH) which rose 430.97% to 18.0000, Frontier Communications Corp (NASDAQ:FTR) which was up 278.95% to settle at 0.9000 and Fiesta Restaurant Group Inc (NASDAQ:FRGI) which gained 214.90% to close at 10.99.
The worst performers were Sabre Corpo (NASDAQ:SABR) which was down 13.35% to 3.31 in late trade, Biomerica Inc (NASDAQ:BMRA) which lost 55.31% to settle at 7.150 and Waitr Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:WTRH) which was down 53.08% to 1.2200 at the close.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 1663 to 1251 and 35 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1649 fell and 1056 advanced, while 35 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 8.28% to 66.04.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for April delivery was up 1.48% or 21.85 to $1501.15 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in May fell 8.68% or 2.25 to hit $23.66 a barrel, while the May Brent oil contract fell 3.83% or 1.09 to trade at $27.38 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.05% to 1.0695, while USD/JPY rose 0.11% to 110.81.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.40% at 103.188.