U.S. shares lower at close of trade; Dow Jones Industrial Average down 2.24%

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

At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 2.24%, while the S&P 500 index fell 2.33%, and the NASDAQ Composite index lost 3.05%.

The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ ), which fell 0.33% or 0.48 points to trade at 145.43 at the close. Chevron Corp (NYSE: CVX ) fell 0.36% or 0.42 points to end at 115.49 and Coca-Cola Company (NYSE: KO ) was down 0.59% or 0.29 points to 49.09 in late trade.

Biggest losers included Intel Corporation (NASDAQ: INTC ), which lost 4.40% or 2.13 points to trade at 46.24 in late trade. Cisco Systems Inc (NASDAQ: CSCO ) declined 4.03% or 1.95 points to end at 46.44 and Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT ) shed 4.00% or 4.37 points to 104.82.

The top performers on the S&P 500 were PPL Corporation (NYSE: PPL ) which rose 2.81% to 31.09, EQT Corporation (NYSE: EQT ) which was up 2.33% to settle at 18.41 and Newmont Mining Corporation (NYSE: NEM ) which gained 2.24% to close at 33.39.

The worst performers were Ulta Beauty Inc (NASDAQ: ULTA ) which was down 13.13% to 254.47 in late trade, Cooper Companies Inc (NYSE: COO ) which lost 12.28% to settle at 243.01 and American Airlines Group (NASDAQ: AAL ) which was down 9.12% to 33.57 at the close.

The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Domo Inc (NASDAQ: DOMO ) which rose 30.52% to 20.40, Uxin Ltd (NASDAQ: UXIN ) which was up 24.47% to settle at 4.68 and Cronos Group Inc (NASDAQ: CRON ) which gained 21.72% to close at 12.7200.

The worst performers were Viveve Medical Inc (NASDAQ: VIVE ) which was down 27.42% to 1.3500 in late trade, United Natural Foods Inc (NASDAQ: UNFI ) which lost 24.58% to settle at 14.88 and Akorn Inc (NASDAQ: AKRX ) which was down 23.79% to 4.26 at the close.

Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 2094 to 956 and 101 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1919 fell and 723 advanced, while 85 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.

The CBOE Volatility Index , which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was up 9.63% to 23.23 a new 1-month high.

In commodities trading, Gold Futures for February delivery was up 0.81% or 10.10 to $1253.70 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in January rose 1.59% or 0.82 to hit $52.31 a barrel, while the February Brent oil contract rose 2.26% or 1.36 to trade at $61.42 a barrel.

EUR/USD was up 0.25% to 1.1406, while USD/JPY unchanged 0.00% to 112.68.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.18% at 96.590.