Investing.com – U.S. equities were lower at the close on Thursday, as losses in the Utilities, Oil & Gas and Healthcare sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.33% to hit a new 1-month low, while the S&P 500 index fell 0.32%, and the NASDAQ Composite index fell 0.24%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Boeing Company (NYSE:BA), which rose 0.86% or 1.36 points to trade at 159.69 at the close. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) added 0.49% or 0.78 points to end at 158.52 and Caterpillar Inc (NYSE:CAT) was up 0.26% or 0.24 points to 93.57 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE:XOM), which lost 1.76% or 1.52 points to trade at 84.76 in late trade. Merck & Company Inc (NYSE:MRK) declined 1.65% or 1.01 points to end at 60.16 and Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE:GS) shed 1.19% or 2.79 points to 231.50.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were CSX Corporation (NASDAQ:CSX) which rose 22.29% to 45.10, Netflix Inc (NASDAQ:NFLX) which was up 4.60% to settle at 139.39 and Norfolk Southern Corporation (NYSE:NSC) which gained 4.13% to close at 114.51.
The worst performers were Chesapeake Energy Corporation (NYSE:CHK) which was down 5.85% to 6.572 in late trade, Western Union Company (NYSE:WU) which lost 3.84% to settle at 21.01 and JB Hunt Transport Services Inc (NASDAQ:JBHT) which was down 3.72% to 94.38 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Delta Technology Holding Ltd (NASDAQ:DELT) which rose 143.97% to 2.1101, NF Energy Saving Corporation (NASDAQ:NFEC) which was up 48.05% to settle at 1.3400 and Bioanalytical Systems Inc (NASDAQ:BASI) which gained 40.47% to close at 0.985.
The worst performers were DryShips Inc (NASDAQ:DRYS) which was down 34.28% to 1.04 in late trade, Amedica Corp (NASDAQ:AMDA) which lost 31.37% to settle at 0.435 and Delcath Systems Inc (NASDAQ:DCTH) which was down 23.91% to 0.3115 at the close.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 2293 to 833 and 72 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1753 fell and 714 advanced, while 114 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was up 4.57% to 13.05.
In commodities trading, Gold for February delivery was down 0.60% or 7.30 to $1204.80 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in February rose 0.57% or 0.29 to hit $51.37 a barrel, while the March Brent oil contract rose 0.52% or 0.28 to trade at $54.20 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.24% to 1.0656, while USD/JPY rose 0.18% to 114.87.
The US Dollar Index was down 0.14% at 101.17.