U.S. shares lower at close of trade; Dow Jones Industrial Average down 0.88%

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

At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.88%, while the S&P 500 index fell 1.12%, and the NASDAQ Composite index lost 1.07%.

The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ ), which rose 1.37% or 2.01 points to trade at 149.18 at the close. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE: UNH ) added 1.00% or 3.04 points to end at 308.02 and Merck & Company Inc (NYSE: MRK ) was up 0.20% or 0.17 points to 85.81 in late trade.

Biggest losers included Boeing Co (NYSE: BA ), which lost 3.81% or 6.39 points to trade at 161.14 in late trade. Apple Inc (NASDAQ: AAPL ) declined 3.17% or 3.50 points to end at 106.84 and International Business Machines (NYSE: IBM ) shed 1.73% or 2.16 points to 122.76.

The top performers on the S&P 500 were Aptiv PLC (NYSE: APTV ) which rose 6.80% to 88.95, Marathon Oil Corporation (NYSE: MRO ) which was up 2.99% to settle at 4.82 and News Corp A (NASDAQ: NWSA ) which gained 2.83% to close at 15.64.

The worst performers were H&R Block Inc (NYSE: HRB ) which was down 7.27% to 13.90 in late trade, Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd (NYSE: NCLH ) which lost 5.85% to settle at 16.25 and Carnival Corporation (NYSE: CCL ) which was down 5.73% to 15.31 at the close.

The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Cassava Sciences Inc (NASDAQ: SAVA ) which rose 42.03% to 10.07, Westport Fuel Systems Inc (NASDAQ: WPRT ) which was up 38.89% to settle at 2.250 and ProPhase Labs Inc (NASDAQ: PRPH ) which gained 29.00% to close at 3.870.

The worst performers were Oasis Midstream Partners LP (NASDAQ: OMP ) which was down 16.98% to 7.58 in late trade, Unico American Corporation (NASDAQ: UNAM ) which lost 14.85% to settle at 5.08 and Pandion Therapeutics Holdco Llc (NASDAQ: PAND ) which was down 14.70% to 14.33 at the close.

Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 2023 to 1059 and 81 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1444 fell and 1433 advanced, while 59 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.

The CBOE Volatility Index , which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 2.38% to 25.83.

In commodities trading, Gold Futures for December delivery was up 0.40% or 7.85 to $1957.75 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in October unchanged 0.00% or 0.00 to hit $40.97 a barrel, while the November Brent oil contract fell 0.48% or 0.21 to trade at $43.09 a barrel.

EUR/USD was down 0.06% to 1.1840, while USD/JPY fell 0.16% to 104.56.

The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.05% at 93.018.