U.S. shares lower at close of trade; Dow Jones Industrial Average down 0.19%

Investing.com – U.S. equities were lower at the close on Friday, as losses in the Healthcare , Consumer Goods and Utilities sectors propelled shares lower.

At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 0.19%, while the S&P 500 index declined 0.24%, and the NASDAQ Composite index declined 0.23%.

The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Chevron Corporation (NYSE: CVX ), which rose 1.02% or 1.10 points to trade at 109.22 at the close. Boeing Company (NYSE: BA ) added 0.69% or 1.01 points to end at 146.34 and The Travelers Companies Inc (NYSE: TRV ) was up 0.59% or 0.66 points to 111.84 in late trade.

Biggest losers included Merck & Company Inc (NYSE: MRK ), which lost 1.29% or 0.81 points to trade at 61.89 in late trade. Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE: PG ) declined 1.29% or 1.07 points to end at 82.00 and Walt Disney Company (NYSE: DIS ) shed 1.12% or 1.11 points to 98.26.

The top performers on the S&P 500 were CF Industries Holdings Inc (NYSE: CF ) which rose 6.90% to 28.96, Ross Stores Inc (NASDAQ: ROST ) which was up 3.77% to settle at 68.00 and Weyerhaeuser Company (NYSE: WY ) which gained 3.63% to close at 31.14.

The worst performers were Gap Inc (NYSE: GPS ) which was down 16.61% to 25.61 in late trade, First Solar Inc (NASDAQ: FSLR ) which lost 6.26% to settle at 29.21 and Under Armour Inc C (NYSE: UAc ) which was down 6.01% to 23.750 at the close.

The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Fuwei Films Holdings Co Ltd (NASDAQ: FFHL ) which rose 58.42% to 0.9600, Signal Genetics Inc (NASDAQ: SGNL ) which was up 32.36% to settle at 10.0200 and Lombard Medical Inc (NASDAQ: EVAR ) which gained 31.68% to close at 0.8300.

The worst performers were Superconductor Technologies Inc (NASDAQ: SCON ) which was down 36.67% to 2.0900 in late trade, Hongli Clean Energy Technologies Corp (NASDAQ: CETC ) which lost 35.38% to settle at 4.2000 and Wins Finance Holdings Inc (NASDAQ: WINS ) which was down 30.42% to 99.00 at the close.

Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 1658 to 1499 and 93 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1385 rose and 1075 declined, 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 3.37% to 12.90 a new 1-month low.

In commodities trading, Gold for December delivery was down 0.69% or 8.45 to $1208.45 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in December rose 0.29% or 0.13 to hit $45.55 a barrel, while the January Brent oil contract rose 0.62% or 0.29 to trade at $46.78 a barrel.

EUR/USD was down 0.31% to 1.0591, while USD/JPY rose 0.71% to 110.90.

The US Dollar Index was up 0.40% at 101.40.