Investing.com – U.S. equities were lower at the close on Friday, as losses in the Technology, Consumer Services and Basic Materials sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 0.68%, while the S&P 500 index declined 0.55%, and the NASDAQ Composite index declined 1.16%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE:MCD), which rose 0.46% or 0.77 points to trade at 166.57 at the close. Pfizer Inc (NYSE:PFE) added 0.47% or 0.21 points to end at 44.91 and UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) was up 0.33% or 0.88 points to 269.20 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC), which lost 2.29% or 1.10 points to trade at 47.03 in late trade. Caterpillar Inc (NYSE:CAT) declined 2.19% or 3.44 points to end at 153.31 and Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) shed 1.62% or 3.70 points to 224.29.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were General Electric Company (NYSE:GE) which rose 4.11% to 13.18, Tyson Foods Inc (NYSE:TSN) which was up 2.58% to settle at 61.55 and FirstEnergy Corporation (NYSE:FE) which gained 2.26% to close at 37.98.
The worst performers were IPG Photonics Corporation (NASDAQ:IPGP) which was down 13.80% to 132.76 in late trade, Newell Brands Inc (NYSE:NWL) which lost 5.76% to settle at 18.82 and Eastman Chemical Company (NYSE:EMN) which was down 5.62% to 91.05 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Altimmune Inc (NASDAQ:ALT) which rose 54.04% to 7.240, GTX Inc (NASDAQ:GTXI) which was up 35.46% to settle at 1.9100 and Realm Therapeutics PLC ADR (NASDAQ:RLM) which gained 32.86% to close at 2.79.
The worst performers were Histogenics Corp (NASDAQ:HSGX) which was down 39.60% to 0.604 in late trade, KemPharm Inc (NASDAQ:KMPH) which lost 36.36% to settle at 2.66 and Aytu BioScience Inc (NASDAQ:AYTU) which was down 36.14% to 1.2900 at the close.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 2093 to 999 and 76 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1779 fell and 845 advanced, while 79 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was up 5.56% to 15.01 a new 3-month high.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for December delivery was up 0.50% or 6.00 to $1207.60 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in November rose 0.07% or 0.05 to hit $74.38 a barrel, while the December Brent oil contract fell 0.52% or 0.44 to trade at $84.14 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.05% to 1.1521, while USD/JPY fell 0.20% to 113.66.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.13% at 95.31.