U.S. stocks were lower after the close on Thursday, as losses in the Technology, Healthcare and Consumer Goods sectors led shares lower.

At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.49%, while the S&P 500 index fell 1.42%, and the NASDAQ Composite index declined 2.51%.

The best performers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Boeing Co (NYSE:BA), which rose 2.97% or 6.45 points to trade at 223.90 at the close. Meanwhile, Caterpillar Inc (NYSE:CAT) added 2.07% or 4.60 points to end at 227.00 and Walmart Inc (NYSE:WMT) was up 1.42% or 2.03 points to 145.47 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT), which fell 4.23% or 13.47 points to trade at 304.80 at the close. Salesforce.com Inc (NYSE:CRM) declined 3.87% or 9.20 points to end at 228.63 and Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) was down 1.90% or 3.34 points to 172.19.

The top performers on the S&P 500 were Biogen Inc (NASDAQ:BIIB) which rose 5.03% to 236.67, Kroger Company (NYSE:KR) which was up 4.96% to settle at 49.48 and American Airlines Group (NASDAQ:AAL) which gained 4.54% to close at 19.34.

The worst performers were ServiceNow Inc (NYSE:NOW) which was down 9.31% to 520.00 in late trade, Lumen Technologies Inc (NYSE:LUMN) which lost 7.67% to settle at 12.27 and Bio-Techne Corp (NASDAQ:TECH) which was down 7.16% to 397.68 at the close.

The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Singularity Future Technology Ltd (NASDAQ:SGLY) which rose 25.88% to 5.010, Medavail Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:MDVL) which was up 24.41% to settle at 1.58 and Vinco Ventures Inc (NASDAQ:BBIG) which gained 22.57% to close at 3.530.

The worst performers were Vyne Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:VYNE) which was down 21.45% to 0.785 in late trade, Kymera Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:KYMR) which lost 15.90% to settle at 42.68 and Kidpik Corp (NASDAQ:PIK) which was down 15.62% to 6.16 at the close.

Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the New York Stock Exchange by 1785 to 1469 and 120 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 2648 fell and 1156 advanced, while 208 ended unchanged.

Shares in Kroger Company (NYSE:KR) rose to all time highs; rising 4.96% or 2.34 to 49.48. Shares in Vyne Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:VYNE) fell to all time lows; falling 21.45% or 0.214 to 0.785.

The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was up 15.27% to 20.31.

Gold Futures for February delivery was down 0.28% or 5.20 to $1822.10 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in February fell 1.17% or 0.97 to hit $81.67 a barrel, while the March Brent oil contract fell 0.08% or 0.07 to trade at $84.09 a barrel.

EUR/USD was up 0.03% to 1.1457, while USD/JPY rose 0.03% to 114.20.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.05% at 94.850.

U.S. stocks lower at close of trade; Dow Jones Industrial Average down 0.49%