U.S. shares lower at close of trade; Dow Jones Industrial Average down 2.37%

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

At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 2.37% to hit a new 6-month low, while the S&P 500 index fell 2.95%, and the NASDAQ Composite index declined 3.62%.

The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Chevron Corp (NYSE: CVX ), which rose 2.14% or 3.39 points to trade at 162.04 at the close. Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ ) added 1.61% or 2.73 points to end at 172.21 and Amgen Inc (NASDAQ: AMGN ) was up 0.62% or 1.45 points to 234.36 in late trade.

Biggest losers included American Express Company (NYSE: AXP ), which lost 7.99% or 13.82 points to trade at 159.13 in late trade. Boeing Co (NYSE: BA ) declined 6.45% or 11.67 points to end at 169.17 and Nike Inc (NYSE: NKE ) shed 5.14% or 6.74 points to 124.44.

The top performers on the S&P 500 were Schlumberger NV (NYSE: SLB ) which rose 8.12% to 42.10, Halliburton Company (NYSE: HAL ) which was up 6.18% to settle at 36.24 and Nextera Energy Inc (NYSE: NEE ) which gained 4.95% to close at 84.18.

The worst performers were PVH Corp (NYSE: PVH ) which was down 15.37% to 66.99 in late trade, United Airlines Holdings Inc (NASDAQ: UAL ) which lost 15.01% to settle at 31.20 and Fortinet Inc (NASDAQ: FTNT ) which was down 13.14% to 291.37 at the close.

The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Imperial Petroleum Inc (NASDAQ: IMPP ) which rose 121.89% to 7.50, Oceanpal Inc (NASDAQ: OP ) which was up 101.60% to settle at 1.26 and Marine Petroleum Trust (NASDAQ: MARPS ) which gained 69.85% to close at 12.11.

The worst performers were Atreca Inc (NASDAQ: BCEL ) which was down 38.27% to 3.21 in late trade, Inspirato Inc (NASDAQ: ISPO ) which lost 37.26% to settle at 26.65 and IO Biotech Inc (NASDAQ: IOBT ) which was down 31.77% to 4.21 at the close.

Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 2538 to 737 and 110 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 2782 fell and 1060 advanced, while 253 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.

The CBOE Volatility Index , which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was up 13.98% to 36.45 a new 52-week high.

In commodities trading, Gold Futures for April delivery was up 1.78% or 35.10 to $2,001.70 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in April rose 4.07% or 4.71 to hit $120.39 a barrel, while the May Brent oil contract rose 0.26% or 0.32 to trade at $124.48 a barrel.

EUR/USD was unchanged 0.02% to 1.09, while USD/JPY fell 0.00% to 115.29.

The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.59% at 99.26.