Investing.com – U.S. equities were lower at the close on Thursday, as losses in the Healthcare, Consumer Services and Technology sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.69% to hit a new 6-month low, while the S&P 500 index declined 0.78%, and the NASDAQ Composite index fell 1.55%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Chevron Corporation (NYSE:CVX), which rose 1.38% or 1.16 points to trade at 85.19 at the close. Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE:XOM) added 1.19% or 0.92 points to end at 78.09 and Caterpillar Inc (NYSE:CAT) was up 0.75% or 0.58 points to 77.46 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT), which lost 2.02% or 0.96 points to trade at 46.62 in late trade. Visa Inc (NYSE:V) declined 1.87% or 1.40 points to end at 73.58 and Pfizer Inc (NYSE:PFE) shed 1.81% or 0.65 points to 35.17.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Chesapeake Energy Corporation (NYSE:CHK) which rose 16.50% to 8.19, Transocean Ltd (NYSE:RIG) which was up 12.16% to settle at 13.84 and Michael Kors Holdings Limited (NYSE:KORS) which gained 10.84% to close at 43.77.
The worst performers were Keurig Green Mountain Inc (NASDAQ:GMCR) which was down 29.75% to 52.67 in late trade, Teradata Corporation (NYSE:TDC) which lost 16.10% to settle at 30.43 and Viacom B Inc (NASDAQ:VIAB) which was down 14.22% to 44.10 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Capnia Inc (NASDAQ:CAPN) which rose 87.57% to 2.16, Ikanos Communications Inc (NASDAQ:IKAN) which was up 54.29% to settle at 2.700 and Merge Healthcare Incorporated (NASDAQ:MRGE) which gained 31.24% to close at 7.10.
The worst performers were InfoSonics Corp (NASDAQ:IFON) which was down 47.17% to 1.680 in late trade, MER Telemanagement Solutions Ltd (NASDAQ:MTSL) which lost 43.38% to settle at 1.610 and Alphatec Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:ATEC) which was down 33.33% to 0.520 at the close.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 1472 to 995 and 2 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1799 fell and 750 advanced, while 7 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was up 10.23% to 13.79.
In commodities trading, Gold for December delivery was up 0.29% or 3.10 to $1088.70 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in September fell 0.82% or 0.37 to hit $44.78 a barrel, while the September Brent oil contract rose 0.20% or 0.10 to trade at $49.69 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.20% to 1.0926, while USD/JPY fell 0.10% to 124.74.
The US Dollar Index was down 0.10% at 97.88.