U.S. stocks lower at close of trade; Dow Jones Industrial Average down 1.94%

Investing.com – U.S. stocks were lower after the close on Thursday, as losses in the Technology, Basic Materials and Financials sectors led shares lower.

At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1.94%, while the S&P 500 index declined 2.38%, and the NASDAQ Composite index fell 2.75%.

The best performers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Home Depot Inc (NYSE:HD), which rose 0.78% or 2.33 points to trade at 299.86 at the close. Meanwhile, UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) fell 0.83% or 4.10 points to end at 489.43 and 3M Company (NYSE:MMM) was down 0.85% or 1.24 points to 144.18 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were Boeing Co (NYSE:BA), which fell 4.23% or 5.90 points to trade at 133.73 at the close. Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS) declined 3.76% or 4.04 points to end at 103.30 and Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) was down 3.60% or 5.32 points to 142.64.

The top performers on the S&P 500 were NXP Semiconductors NV (NASDAQ:NXPI) which rose 4.04% to 184.22, Pool Corporation (NASDAQ:POOL) which was up 2.34% to settle at 416.39 and Dollar General Corporation (NYSE:DG) which gained 1.70% to close at 237.71.

The worst performers were Moderna Inc (NASDAQ:MRNA) which was down 9.76% to 134.04 in late trade, Carnival Corporation (NYSE:CCL) which lost 9.28% to settle at 11.73 and Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd (NYSE:NCLH) which was down 9.17% to 13.76 at the close.

The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Powerbridge Technologies Co Ltd (NASDAQ:PBTS) which rose 189.86% to 1.12, Nextplay Technologies Inc (NASDAQ:NXTP) which was up 93.43% to settle at 0.35 and DBV Technologies (NASDAQ:DBVT) which gained 79.56% to close at 3.25.

The worst performers were Cerberus Cyber Sentinel Corp (NASDAQ:CISO) which was down 42.59% to 5.27 in late trade, Integrated Media Technology Ltd (NASDAQ:IMTE) which lost 27.40% to settle at 2.65 and Transphorm Technology Inc (NASDAQ:TGAN) which was down 25.64% to 4.90 at the close.

Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the New York Stock Exchange by 2706 to 487 and 71 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 2817 fell and 1043 advanced, while 170 ended unchanged.

Shares in Carnival Corporation (NYSE:CCL) fell to 52-week lows; down 9.28% or 1.20 to 11.73. Shares in Integrated Media Technology Ltd (NASDAQ:IMTE) fell to 3-years lows; down 27.40% or 1.00 to 2.65.

The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was up 8.89% to 26.09.

Gold Futures for August delivery was down 0.31% or 5.80 to $1,850.70 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in July fell 0.70% or 0.86 to hit $121.25 a barrel, while the August Brent oil contract fell 0.60% or 0.74 to trade at $122.84 a barrel.

EUR/USD was down 0.91% to 1.06, while USD/JPY rose 0.15% to 134.43.

The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.76% at 103.32.