Investing.com -- U.S. stocks rallied late in Thursday's session amid hopes that Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen could strike a dovish tone in an appearance after the close of trading, but still closed slightly lower on a volatile day of trading.
Earlier, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell as much as 263 points as weakening health care stocks and a massive sell-off in Caterpillar Inc (NYSE:CAT) weighed on all three major indices. On Thursday morning, Caterpillar, the world's largest construction and mining equipment maker, announced that it is cutting its revenue forecast and slashing up to 10,000 jobs, amid continuing softness in the energy and mining sectors worldwide. Caterpillar lowered its full-year revenue outlook to $48 billion for 2015, below analysts' forecasts for sales of $48.82 billion.
The Dow fell 78.57 or 0.48% to 16,201.32 for its fifth loss in the last six sessions, while the NASDAQ Composite index lost 18.26 or 0.38% to close at 4,734.48. The S&P Composite index, meanwhile, dipped 6.52 or 0.34% to 1,932.24, as five of 10 sectors closed in the red. Stocks in the Health Care, Industrials and Financials sectors lagged, while stocks in the Utilities, Energy and Consumer Goods industries led.
Shortly after the close on Thursday, Yellen is scheduled to speak on inflation dynamics and monetary policy during an appearance at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst. It will mark her first public appearance since the Federal Reserve held short-term interest rates at its current near-zero level last week. Nearly a decade has passed since the Federal Open Market Committee has raised interest rates.
The top performer on the Dow was Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG), which added 1.14 or 1.62% to 71.40. Shares in the multinational consumer goods company are still down by more than 16% over the last year. Caterpillar ended the session as the worst performer after losing 4.40 or 6.27% to 65.80. At one point, Caterpillar shares fell below $65 to plummet to a five-year low.
The biggest gainer on the NASDAQ was Netflix Inc (NASDAQ:NFLX), which gained 5.69 or 5.80% to 103.76 after announcing that it is set to launch a virtual reality app that will allow users to explore content in 3D virtual spaces. The worst performer was Charter Communications Inc (NASDAQ:CHTR), which lost 6.45 or 3.37% to 184.93. Earlier in the week, the Federal Communications Commission approved the company's $79 billion merger with Time Warner.
The top performer on the S&P was Newmont Mining Corporation (NYSE:NEM) which jumped 1.22 or 7.85% to 16.77. On Thursday, gold futures soared more than $20 an ounce to above $1,150 an ounce, its highest level in the month of September. Caterpillar was also the worst performer on the S&P 500, just below Transocean which dipped 0.65 or 6.27% to 65.80.
On the New York Stock Exchange, declining issues outnumbered advancing ones by a 1,842 to 1,266 margin.