Investing.com – U.S. equities were lower at the close on Friday, as losses in the Financials, Basic Materials and Technology sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 3.39% to hit a new 3-month low, while the S&P 500 index declined 3.60%, and the NASDAQ Composite index lost 4.12%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Wal-Mart Stores Inc (NYSE:WMT), which fell 0.19% or 0.14 points to trade at 71.96 at the close. Verizon Communications Inc (NYSE:VZ) fell 0.44% or 0.24 points to end at 54.43 and UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) was down 1.36% or 1.90 points to 137.29 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE:GS), which lost 7.07% or 10.80 points to trade at 141.86 in late trade. JPMorgan Chase & Co (NYSE:JPM) declined 6.95% or 4.45 points to end at 59.60 and Caterpillar Inc (NYSE:CAT) shed 6.64% or 5.19 points to 73.03.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Newmont Mining Corporation (NYSE:NEM) which rose 5.09% to 37.19, Hormel Foods Corporation (NYSE:HRL) which was up 2.17% to settle at 35.34 and Consolidated Edison Inc (NYSE:ED) which gained 2.02% to close at 78.41.
The worst performers were Invesco Plc (NYSE:IVZ) which was down 13.67% to 25.57 in late trade, Lincoln National Corporation (NYSE:LNC) which lost 13.30% to settle at 38.47 and Delphi Automotive plc (NYSE:DLPH) which was down 12.22% to 62.07 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Biostar Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:BSPM) which rose 30.58% to 4.2700, Micronet Enertec Technologies Inc (NASDAQ:MICT) which was up 27.16% to settle at 2.047 and Skullcandy Inc (NASDAQ:SKUL) which gained 23.08% to close at 5.760.
The worst performers were Zais Group Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:ZAIS) which was down 25.37% to 3.000 in late trade, Ultrapetrol Ltd (NASDAQ:ULTR) which lost 19.12% to settle at 0.3316 and PhotoMedex Inc (NASDAQ:PHMD) which was down 17.24% to 0.2400 at the close.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 2719 to 594 and 14 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 2204 fell and 405 advanced, while 33 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was up 43.65% to 24.78 a new 3-month high.
In commodities trading, Gold for August delivery was up 4.52% or 57.15 to $1320.25 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in August fell 4.97% or 2.49 to hit $47.62 a barrel, while the August Brent oil contract fell 4.87% or 2.48 to trade at $48.43 a barrel.
EUR/USD was down 2.46% to 1.1103, while USD/JPY fell 3.53% to 102.42.
The US Dollar Index was up 2.52% at 95.68.