Investing.com – U.S. equities were lower at the close on Thursday, as losses in the Telecoms, Industrials and Consumer Goods sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 0.22%, while the S&P 500 index declined 0.14%, and the NASDAQ Composite index declined 0.09%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were American Express Company (NYSE:AXP), which rose 9.06% or 5.55 points to trade at 66.80 at the close. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) added 0.50% or 0.72 points to end at 145.09 and Home Depot Inc (NYSE:HD) was up 0.27% or 0.34 points to 126.23 in late trade.
Biggest losers included The Travelers Companies Inc (NYSE:TRV), which lost 5.65% or 6.57 points to trade at 109.66 in late trade. Verizon Communications Inc (NYSE:VZ) declined 2.48% or 1.25 points to end at 49.13 and Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) shed 0.75% or 0.65 points to 84.89.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were American Express Company (NYSE:AXP) which rose 9.06% to 66.80, Snap-On Incorporated (NYSE:SNA) which was up 6.63% to settle at 159.00 and Mattel Inc (NASDAQ:MAT) which gained 6.01% to close at 32.46.
The worst performers were eBay Inc (NASDAQ:EBAY) which was down 10.76% to 29.02 in late trade, Union Pacific Corporation (NYSE:UNP) which lost 6.72% to settle at 90.59 and The Travelers Companies Inc (NYSE:TRV) which was down 5.65% to 109.66 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were DragonWave Inc (NASDAQ:DRWI) which rose 94.12% to 4.2900, Moleculin Biotech Inc (NASDAQ:MBRX) which was up 60.97% to settle at 4.33 and MannKind Corporation (NASDAQ:MNKD) which gained 29.97% to close at 0.610.
The worst performers were First NBC Bank Holding Company (NASDAQ:FNBC) which was down 19.20% to 9.05 in late trade, Flexsteel Industries Inc (NASDAQ:FLXS) which lost 17.92% to settle at 41.40 and DXP Enterprises Inc (NASDAQ:DXPE) which was down 17.20% to 24.03 at the close.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 1818 to 1296 and 98 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1368 fell and 1099 advanced, while 154 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 4.51% to 13.76.
In commodities trading, Gold for December delivery was down 0.25% or 3.15 to $1266.75 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in December fell 2.37% or 1.23 to hit $50.59 a barrel, while the December Brent oil contract fell 2.51% or 1.32 to trade at $51.35 a barrel.
EUR/USD was down 0.44% to 1.0926, while USD/JPY rose 0.47% to 103.95.
The US Dollar Index was up 0.45% at 98.31.