U.S. shares lower at close of trade; Dow Jones Industrial Average down 0.13%

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

At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 0.13%, while the S&P 500 index fell 0.13%, and the NASDAQ Composite index fell 0.24%.

The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE: UNH ), which rose 1.83% or 4.53 points to trade at 252.29 at the close. Exxon Mobil Corp (NYSE: XOM ) added 1.39% or 1.06 points to end at 77.67 and Verizon Communications Inc (NYSE: VZ ) was up 0.78% or 0.45 points to 57.79 in late trade.

Biggest losers included Walt Disney Company (NYSE: DIS ), which lost 1.24% or 1.76 points to trade at 140.26 in late trade. Dow Inc (NYSE: DOW ) declined 1.15% or 0.56 points to end at 48.37 and United Technologies Corporation (NYSE: UTX ) shed 0.98% or 1.27 points to 128.76.

The top performers on the S&P 500 were Humana Inc (NYSE: HUM ) which rose 4.47% to 270.39, Baker Hughes A Ge Company LLC (NYSE: BHGE ) which was up 3.41% to settle at 25.19 and CarMax Inc (NYSE: KMX ) which gained 3.13% to close at 85.60.

The worst performers were Carnival Corporation (NYSE: CCL ) which was down 4.51% to 46.60 in late trade, Altria Group (NYSE: MO ) which lost 4.50% to settle at 48.00 and Sealed Air Corporation (NYSE: SEE ) which was down 4.44% to 41.73 at the close.

The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Legacy Reserves Inc (NASDAQ: LGCY ) which rose 59.77% to 0.0850, Aspen Group Inc (NASDAQ: ASPU ) which was up 25.93% to settle at 5.1000 and China SXT Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ: SXTC ) which gained 24.36% to close at 4.3400.

The worst performers were Akerna Corp (NASDAQ: KERN ) which was down 25.99% to 27.05 in late trade, VERB TECHNOLOGY COMPANY INC (NASDAQ: VERB ) which lost 18.33% to settle at 1.960 and Stellar Biotechnologies Inc (NASDAQ: EDSA ) which was down 18.11% to 6.060 at the close.

Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 1830 to 1188 and 23 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1591 fell and 1056 advanced, while 108 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.

The CBOE Volatility Index , which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was up 4.41% to 15.40.

In commodities trading, Gold Futures for August delivery was up 0.45% or 6.30 to $1403.20 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in August rose 0.91% or 0.52 to hit $57.59 a barrel, while the August Brent oil contract rose 1.33% or 0.86 to trade at $65.31 a barrel.

EUR/USD was up 0.68% to 1.1368, while USD/JPY rose 0.02% to 107.31.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.46% at 95.692.