Investing.com – U.S. stocks were lower after the close on Thursday, as losses in the Basic Materials, Financials and Technology sectors led shares lower.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.25%, while the S&P 500 index lost 0.31%, and the NASDAQ Composite index fell 0.49%.
The best performers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Merck & Company Inc (NYSE:MRK), which rose 1.38% or 0.85 points to trade at 62.51 at the close. Meanwhile, Wal-Mart Stores Inc (NYSE:WMT) added 1.16% or 0.78 points to end at 68.24 and United Technologies Corporation (NYSE:UTX) was up 0.88% or 0.87 points to 99.80 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Chevron Corporation (NYSE:CVX), which fell 1.40% or 1.43 points to trade at 100.72 at the close. Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE:GS) declined 1.05% or 1.78 points to end at 167.52 and EI du Pont de Nemours and Company (NYSE:DD) was down 0.97% or 0.67 points to 68.11.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Ulta Salon Cosmetics & Fragrance (NASDAQ:ULTA) which rose 11.35% to 266.10, American Airlines Group (NASDAQ:AAL) which was up 4.98% to settle at 39.24 and HCA Holdings Inc (NYSE:HCA) which gained 4.46% to close at 80.32.
The worst performers were Cabot Oil & Gas Corporation (NYSE:COG) which was down 4.48% to 22.79 in late trade, Qorvo Inc (NASDAQ:QRVO) which lost 4.35% to settle at 52.81 and Freeport-McMoran Copper & Gold Inc (NYSE:FCX) which was down 3.98% to 9.65 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were xG Technology Inc (NASDAQ:XGTI) which rose 31.56% to 0.4210, Contravir Pharmaceut (NASDAQ:CTRV) which was up 22.52% to settle at 1.3600 and Voltari Corp (NASDAQ:VLTC) which gained 18.72% to close at 2.600.
The worst performers were Fluidigm Corporation (NASDAQ:FLDM) which was down 33.97% to 4.66 in late trade, Pernix Therapeutics Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:PTX) which lost 25.81% to settle at 0.417 and Flex Pharma Inc (NASDAQ:FLKS) which was down 24.73% to 8.43 at the close.
Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the New York Stock Exchange by 2119 to 1052 and 65 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1836 fell and 664 advanced, while 117 ended unchanged.
Shares in Fluidigm Corporation (NASDAQ:FLDM) fell to all time lows; down 33.97% or 2.40 to 4.66.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was up 4.34% to 16.60.
Gold for December delivery was up 0.42% or 5.25 to $1259.05 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in November rose 0.50% or 0.25 to hit $50.43 a barrel, while the December Brent oil contract rose 0.39% or 0.20 to trade at $52.01 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.40% to 1.1054, while USD/JPY fell 0.55% to 103.64.
The US Dollar Index was down 0.45% at 97.55.