U.S. stocks lower at close of trade; Dow Jones Industrial Average down 0.90%

Investing.com – U.S. stocks were lower after the close on Friday, as losses in the Oil&Gas, Healthcare and Basic Materials sectors led shares lower.

At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 0.90%, while the S&P 500 index fell 0.74%, and the NASDAQ Composite index fell 0.70%.

The best performers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS), which rose 0.90% or 0.83 points to trade at 93.38 at the close. Meanwhile, Verizon Communications Inc (NYSE:VZ) added 0.80% or 0.29 points to end at 37.40 and Salesforce Inc (NYSE:CRM) was up 0.77% or 1.00 points to 131.13 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were Chevron Corp (NYSE:CVX), which fell 3.19% or 5.54 points to trade at 168.00 at the close. Amgen Inc (NASDAQ:AMGN) declined 2.42% or 6.92 points to end at 278.65 and Walmart Inc (NYSE:WMT) was down 2.33% or 3.46 points to 145.32.

The top performers on the S&P 500 were Paramount Global Class B (NASDAQ:PARA) which rose 5.08% to 19.02, Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) which was up 3.23% to settle at 179.05 and Netflix Inc (NASDAQ:NFLX) which gained 3.14% to close at 320.01.

The worst performers were Schlumberger NV (NYSE:SLB) which was down 5.93% to 46.96 in late trade, Etsy Inc (NASDAQ:ETSY) which lost 5.74% to settle at 126.78 and Halliburton Company (NYSE:HAL) which was down 5.32% to 33.02 at the close.

The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were HTG Molecular Diagnostics Inc (NASDAQ:HTGM) which rose 117.57% to 0.54, ClearOne Inc (NASDAQ:CLRO) which was up 73.40% to settle at 1.40 and China Jo-Jo Drugstores Inc (NASDAQ:CJJD) which gained 51.20% to close at 3.31.

The worst performers were Grom Social Enterprises Inc (NASDAQ:GROM) which was down 66.28% to 1.30 in late trade, Autolus Therapeutics Ltd (NASDAQ:AUTL) which lost 38.13% to settle at 1.85 and Appreciate Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:SFR) which was down 33.43% to 2.73 at the close.

Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the New York Stock Exchange by 2134 to 954 and 104 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 2356 fell and 1373 advanced, while 200 ended unchanged.

Shares in Grom Social Enterprises Inc (NASDAQ:GROM) fell to all time lows; falling 66.28% or 2.56 to 1.30. Shares in Autolus Therapeutics Ltd (NASDAQ:AUTL) fell to all time lows; down 38.13% or 1.14 to 1.85. Shares in Appreciate Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:SFR) fell to all time lows; losing 33.43% or 1.37 to 2.73.

The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was up 2.42% to 22.83.

Gold Futures for February delivery was up 0.36% or 6.45 to $1,807.95 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in January rose 0.10% or 0.07 to hit $71.53 a barrel, while the February Brent oil contract rose 0.71% or 0.54 to trade at $76.69 a barrel.

EUR/USD was unchanged 0.25% to 1.05, while USD/JPY rose 0.02% to 136.68.

The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.17% at 104.93.