Investing.com – U.S. equities were lower at the close on Thursday, as losses in the Oil & Gas, Utilities and Financials sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 9.99% to hit a new 52-week low, while the S&P 500 index fell 9.51%, and the NASDAQ Composite index lost 9.43%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were United Technologies Corporation (NYSE:UTX), which fell 4.66% or 5.01 points to trade at 102.50 at the close. Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) fell 4.85% or 6.39 points to end at 125.41 and Merck & Company Inc (NYSE:MRK) was down 6.06% or 4.80 points to 74.45 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Boeing Co (NYSE:BA), which lost 18.11% or 34.24 points to trade at 154.84 in late trade. Dow Inc (NYSE:DOW) declined 15.43% or 4.32 points to end at 23.67 and Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS) shed 12.98% or 13.70 points to 91.81.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Occidental Petroleum Corporation (NYSE:OXY) which rose 0.76% to 11.89, Cabot Oil & Gas Corporation (NYSE:COG) which was down 1.05% to settle at 16.04 and Centene Corp (NYSE:CNC) which lost 1.42% to close at 57.13.
The worst performers were Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd (NYSE:NCLH) which was down 35.80% to 9.65 in late trade, Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd (NYSE:RCL) which lost 31.78% to settle at 30.27 and Carnival Corporation (NYSE:CCL) which was down 31.17% to 14.97 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Borqs Technologies Inc (NASDAQ:BRQS) which rose 125.56% to 4.060, Greenland Acquisition Corp (NASDAQ:GTEC) which was up 78.87% to settle at 2.54 and Aytu BioScience Inc (NASDAQ:AYTU) which gained 36.30% to close at 1.8400.
The worst performers were ZAGG Inc (NASDAQ:ZAGG) which was down 54.41% to 2.43 in late trade, Liberty Tri (NASDAQ:LTRPA) which lost 47.65% to settle at 1.23 and LogicBio Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:LOGC) which was down 39.89% to 4.22 at the close.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 2880 to 83 and 4 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 2617 fell and 135 advanced, while 12 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was up 40.02% to 75.47 a new 5-year high.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for April delivery was up 0.26% or 4.10 to $1580.00 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in April fell 1.97% or 0.61 to hit $30.37 a barrel, while the May Brent oil contract rose 0.43% or 0.14 to trade at $32.86 a barrel.
EUR/USD was unchanged 0.00% to 1.1183, while USD/JPY fell 0.01% to 104.62.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.98% at 97.440.