At the close in the New York Stock Exchange, the Dow Jones fell 0.02%, the S&P 500 fell 0.31%, and the NASDAQ Composite fell 0.35%.

The leading performer among the components of the Dow Jones index today was Cisco Systems Inc, which gained 2.20 points or 4.96% to close at 46.59. Merck & Company Inc rose 2.38 points or 2.38% to close at 102.31. Apple Inc rose 1.93 points or 1.30% to close at 150.72.

The least gainers were Salesforce Inc, which shed 5.43 points or 3.50% to end the session at 149.69. The Walt Disney Company rose 2.66% or 2.50 points to close at 91.45 while American Express Company shed 1.27% or 1.93 points to close at 150. .64.

Among the S&P 500 index components gainers in today's trading were Bath & Body Works Inc., which rose 25.18% to 38.97, Gap Inc, which gained 5.56% to close at 12.71., as well as shares of Qorvo Inc, which rose 5.25% to close the session at 97.70.

The least gainers were West Pharmaceutical Services Inc, which shed 7.57% to close at 221.93. Shares of Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd shed 6.77% to end the session at 16.40. Paycom Soft quotes fell 5.73% to 318.34.

The leading gainers among the components of the NASDAQ Composite in today's trading were Ardelyx Inc, which rose 40.98% to hit 1.72, CytomX Therapeutics Inc, which gained 32.23% to close at 1.60, and shares of Cuentas Inc, which rose 28.00% to end the session at 0.32.

The least gainers were shares of Inotiv Inc, which fell 56.97% to close at 6.82. Shares of Golden Sun Education Group Ltd lost 46.28% and closed the session at 2.31. Quotes Singularity Future Technology Ltd fell in price by 45.93% to 1.13.

On the New York Stock Exchange, the number of securities that fell in price (1996) exceeded the number of those that closed in positive territory (1109), and the quotes of 147 shares remained virtually unchanged. On the NASDAQ stock exchange, 2,280 companies fell in price, 1,467 rose, and 258 remained at the level of the previous close.

The CBOE Volatility Index, which is based on S&P 500 options trading, fell 0.75% to 23.93.

Gold futures for December delivery lost 0.70%, or 12.40, to hit $1.00 a troy ounce. In other commodities, WTI crude for December delivery dropped 4.23%, or 3.62, to $81.97 a barrel. Futures for Brent crude for January delivery fell 3.08%, or 2.86, to $90.00 a barrel.

Meanwhile, in the forex market, the EUR/USD pair remained unchanged 0.23% to 1.04, while USD/JPY rose 0.46% to hit 140.18.

Futures on the USD index rose by 0.37% to 106.55.