Investing.com – U.S. equities were lower at the close on Thursday, as losses in the Healthcare, Industrials and Technology sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 1.49%, while the S&P 500 index declined 1.19%, and the NASDAQ Composite index declined 1.03%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Verizon Communications Inc (NYSE:VZ), which rose 0.58% or 0.28 points to trade at 48.02 at the close. Chevron Corporation (NYSE:CVX) added 0.05% or 0.06 points to end at 111.98 and Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO) was down 0.02% or 0.01 points to 43.21 in late trade.
Biggest losers included United Technologies Corporation (NYSE:UTX), which lost 2.85% or 3.85 points to trade at 130.90 in late trade. Boeing Co (NYSE:BA) declined 2.77% or 10.02 points to end at 352.19 and Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) shed 2.59% or 1.28 points to 48.01.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Range Resources Corporation (NYSE:RRC) which rose 4.10% to 13.84, NRG Energy Inc (NYSE:NRG) which was up 3.87% to settle at 26.86 and Nucor Corporation (NYSE:NUE) which gained 3.70% to close at 67.82.
The worst performers were Patterson Companies Inc (NASDAQ:PDCO) which was down 27.99% to 22.74 in late trade, Monster Beverage 1990 Corp (NASDAQ:MNST) which lost 13.93% to settle at 54.54 and L Brands Inc (NYSE:LB) which was down 11.72% to 43.55 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Tenax Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:TENX) which rose 154.84% to 11.825, Jason Industries Inc (NASDAQ:JASN) which was up 24.20% to settle at 2.720 and MagneGas Corp (NASDAQ:MNGA) which gained 19.97% to close at 1.284.
The worst performers were Patterson Companies Inc (NASDAQ:PDCO) which was down 27.99% to 22.74 in late trade, Portola Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:PTLA) which lost 23.84% to settle at 32.23 and Sorrento Therape (NASDAQ:SRNE) which was down 21.36% to 7.83 at the close.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 1775 to 1336 and 25 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1360 fell and 1159 advanced, while 101 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was up 15.72% to 22.97.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for April delivery was up 0.13% or 1.70 to $1319.60 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in April fell 0.36% or 0.22 to hit $61.42 a barrel, while the May Brent oil contract fell 0.71% or 0.46 to trade at $64.27 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.52% to 1.2257, while USD/JPY fell 0.33% to 106.32.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.36% at 90.28.