Investing.com – U.S. equities were lower at the close on Friday, as losses in the Healthcare, Consumer Goods and Basic Materials sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 0.16%, while the S&P 500 index declined 0.18%, and the NASDAQ Composite index fell 0.10%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE:GS), which rose 0.91% or 1.87 points to trade at 207.91 at the close. Nike Inc (NYSE:NKE) added 0.79% or 0.68 points to end at 86.88 and UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) was up 0.72% or 1.77 points to 246.98 in late trade.
Biggest losers included 3M Company (NYSE:MMM), which lost 1.66% or 2.90 points to trade at 172.08 in late trade. Merck & Company Inc (NYSE:MRK) declined 1.47% or 1.28 points to end at 85.62 and Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) shed 1.12% or 1.59 points to 140.55.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Signet Jewelers Ltd (NYSE:SIG) which rose 5.87% to 17.31, Jefferies Financial Group Inc (NYSE:JEF) which was up 3.47% to settle at 21.44 and EQT Corporation (NYSE:EQT) which gained 2.66% to close at 15.46.
The worst performers were Electronic Arts Inc (NASDAQ:EA) which was down 4.60% to 93.60 in late trade, IPG Photonics Corporation (NASDAQ:IPGP) which lost 4.32% to settle at 149.00 and Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:REGN) which was down 3.58% to 307.00 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Oasmia Pharmaceutical AB (NASDAQ:OASM) which rose 63.41% to 2.010, Ultra Petroleum Corp (NASDAQ:UPL) which was up 43.45% to settle at 0.265 and Xenetic Biosciences Inc (NASDAQ:XBIO) which gained 39.20% to close at 12.250.
The worst performers were China SXT Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:SXTC) which was down 22.08% to 3.1400 in late trade, Ascent Capital Group Inc (NASDAQ:ASCMA) which lost 12.26% to settle at 0.93 and Ideal Power Inc (NASDAQ:IPWR) which was down 13.04% to 0.350 at the close.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 1518 to 1476 and 25 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1485 rose and 1148 declined, while 94 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was up 5.65% to 13.28.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for August delivery was down 1.36% or 19.30 to $1401.60 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in August rose 0.68% or 0.39 to hit $57.73 a barrel, while the September Brent oil contract rose 1.85% or 1.17 to trade at $64.47 a barrel.
EUR/USD was down 0.52% to 1.1225, while USD/JPY rose 0.63% to 108.47.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.52% at 96.835.