U.S. shares lower at close of trade; Dow Jones Industrial Average down 0.70%

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

At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 0.70%, while the S&P 500 index fell 1.32%, and the NASDAQ Composite index fell 2.25%.

The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS), which rose 5.46% or 5.96 points to trade at 115.08 at the close. Verizon Communications Inc (NYSE:VZ) added 1.91% or 0.78 points to end at 41.65 and Travelers Companies (NYSE:TRV) was up 1.68% or 4.30 points to 260.82 in late trade.

Biggest losers included Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN), which lost 4.22% or 8.93 points to trade at 202.55 in late trade. Amgen Inc (NASDAQ:AMGN) declined 4.16% or 12.32 points to end at 283.61 and NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) shed 3.26% or 4.78 points to 141.98.

The top performers on the S&P 500 were Palantir Technologies Inc (NYSE:PLTR) which rose 11.14% to 65.77, Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS) which was up 5.46% to settle at 115.08 and DaVita HealthCare Partners Inc (NYSE:DVA) which gained 3.87% to close at 160.33.

The worst performers were Applied Materials Inc (NASDAQ:AMAT) which was down 9.20% to 168.88 in late trade, Omnicom Group Inc (NYSE:OMC) which lost 7.79% to settle at 96.86 and Moderna Inc (NASDAQ:MRNA) which was down 7.34% to 36.85 at the close.

The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were CERo Therapeutics Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:CERO) which rose 52.40% to 0.29, Cyclerion Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:CYCN) which was up 45.76% to settle at 2.58 and Simpple Ltd (NASDAQ:SPPL) which gained 43.47% to close at 1.27.

The worst performers were Tff Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:TFFP) which was down 76.64% to 0.38 in late trade, Eyenovia Inc (NASDAQ:EYEN) which lost 70.04% to settle at 0.10 and iPower Inc (NASDAQ:IPW) which was down 40.00% to 0.72 at the close.

Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 1853 to 963 and 75 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 2443 fell and 875 advanced, while 102 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.

The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was up 12.79% to 16.14.

In commodities trading, Gold Futures for December delivery was down 0.28% or 7.15 to $2,565.75 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in December fell 2.50% or 1.72 to hit $66.98 a barrel, while the January Brent oil contract fell 2.07% or 1.50 to trade at $71.06 a barrel.

EUR/USD was unchanged 0.03% to 1.05, while USD/JPY fell 1.23% to 154.32.

The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.06% at 106.67.