U.S. shares lower at close of trade; Dow Jones Industrial Average down 1.56%

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

At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 1.56%, while the S&P 500 index declined 1.57%, and the NASDAQ Composite index lost 1.54%.

The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Caterpillar Inc (NYSE: CAT ), which fell 0.12% or 0.26 points to trade at 222.82 at the close. Amgen Inc (NASDAQ: AMGN ) fell 0.31% or 0.75 points to end at 241.82 and Coca-Cola Co (NYSE: KO ) was down 0.34% or 0.21 points to 62.00 in late trade.

Biggest losers included Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc (NASDAQ: WBA ), which lost 5.67% or 2.69 points to trade at 44.77 in late trade. Intel Corporation (NASDAQ: INTC ) declined 3.71% or 1.91 points to end at 49.52 and JPMorgan Chase & Co (NYSE: JPM ) shed 3.00% or 4.22 points to 136.32.

The top performers on the S&P 500 were Carnival Corporation (NYSE: CCL ) which rose 3.16% to 20.22, Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd (NYSE: NCLH ) which was up 3.11% to settle at 21.88 and Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd (NYSE: RCL ) which gained 2.82% to close at 83.78.

The worst performers were Advanced Micro Devices Inc (NASDAQ: AMD ) which was down 8.27% to 109.36 in late trade, Etsy Inc (NASDAQ: ETSY ) which lost 7.64% to settle at 124.28 and PVH Corp (NYSE: PVH ) which was down 7.35% to 76.61 at the close.

The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Longeveron LLC (NASDAQ: LGVN ) which rose 105.36% to 13.80, SAB Biotherapeutics Inc (NASDAQ: SABS ) which was up 44.62% to settle at 3.76 and Integrated Media Technology Ltd (NASDAQ: IMTE ) which gained 38.34% to close at 31.14.

The worst performers were Motorsport Gaming Us LLC (NASDAQ: MSGM ) which was down 35.92% to 1.32 in late trade, Missfresh Ltd ADR (NASDAQ: MF ) which lost 29.36% to settle at 0.90 and Clarus Therapeutics Holdings Inc (NASDAQ: CRXT ) which was down 28.37% to 1.49 at the close.

Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 2040 to 1226 and 100 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 2501 fell and 1410 advanced, while 191 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.

The CBOE Volatility Index , which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was up 6.36% to 20.56.

In commodities trading, Gold Futures for April delivery was up 0.16% or 3.00 to $1,936.50 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in May fell 6.43% or 6.93 to hit $100.89 a barrel, while the June Brent oil contract fell 5.50% or 6.13 to trade at $105.31 a barrel.

EUR/USD was down 0.78% to 1.11, while USD/JPY fell 0.06% to 121.72.

The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.51% at 98.38.