U.S. shares lower at close of trade; Dow Jones Industrial Average down 0.03%

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

At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.03%, while the S&P 500 index declined 0.09%, and the NASDAQ Composite index fell 0.07%.

The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT ), which rose 1.79% or 1.87 points to trade at 106.27 at the close. JPMorgan Chase & Co (NYSE: JPM ) added 1.26% or 1.39 points to end at 111.28 and Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE: GS ) was up 0.90% or 2.06 points to 231.69 in late trade.

Biggest losers included International Business Machines (NYSE: IBM ), which lost 1.94% or 2.89 points to trade at 146.35 in late trade. Caterpillar Inc (NYSE: CAT ) declined 1.86% or 2.60 points to end at 136.82 and Cisco Systems Inc (NASDAQ: CSCO ) shed 0.92% or 0.39 points to 42.01.

The top performers on the S&P 500 were Cintas Corporation (NASDAQ: CTAS ) which rose 5.11% to 203.57, Philip Morris International Inc (NYSE: PM ) which was up 4.22% to settle at 84.31 and VF Corporation (NYSE: VFC ) which gained 4.15% to close at 92.94.

The worst performers were State Street Corporation (NYSE: STT ) which was down 7.41% to 85.87 in late trade, Skyworks Solutions Inc (NASDAQ: SWKS ) which lost 5.36% to settle at 96.99 and Alaska Air Group Inc (NYSE: ALK ) which was down 4.95% to 60.63 at the close.

The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Rewalk Robotics Ltd (NASDAQ: RWLK ) which rose 73.64% to 1.25, Aralez Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ: ARLZ ) which was up 25.46% to settle at 0.31 and SAExploration Holdings Inc (NASDAQ: SAEX ) which gained 19.41% to close at 2.030.

The worst performers were Zynerba Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ: ZYNE ) which was down 24.09% to 7.91 in late trade, FTD Companies Inc (NASDAQ: FTD ) which lost 19.47% to settle at 3.64 and Diversified Restaurant Holdings Inc (NASDAQ: SAUC ) which was down 16.53% to 1.010 at the close.

Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 1608 to 1415 and 139 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1347 fell and 1195 advanced, while 129 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.

The CBOE Volatility Index , which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 0.31% to 12.83.

In commodities trading, Gold Futures for August delivery was up 0.57% or 7.00 to $1231.00 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in September fell 0.18% or 0.12 to hit $68.12 a barrel, while the September Brent oil contract rose 0.66% or 0.48 to trade at $73.06 a barrel.

EUR/USD was up 0.69% to 1.1723, while USD/JPY fell 0.85% to 111.50.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.80% at 94.22.