Investing.com – U.S. equities were lower at the close on Wednesday, as losses in the Oil & Gas, Basic Materials and Industrials sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 0.93% to hit a new 6-month low, while the S&P 500 index lost 0.83%, and the NASDAQ Composite index fell 0.80%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were McDonald`s Corporation (NYSE:MCD), which rose 0.34% or 0.34 points to trade at 101.10 at the close. Merck & Company Inc (NYSE:MRK) added 0.22% or 0.13 points to end at 59.66 and Nike Inc (NYSE:NKE) was up 0.12% or 0.14 points to 114.96 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Chevron Corporation (NYSE:CVX), which lost 3.03% or 2.53 points to trade at 80.91 in late trade. Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE:XOM) declined 2.14% or 1.67 points to end at 76.23 and Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) shed 1.90% or 0.55 points to 28.36.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were JM Smucker Company (NYSE:SJM) which rose 2.67% to 111.88, Yum! Brands Inc (NYSE:YUM) which was up 2.24% to settle at 86.09 and Newmont Mining Corporation (NYSE:NEM) which gained 2.22% to close at 17.93.
The worst performers were Marathon Oil Corporation (NYSE:MRO) which was down 7.15% to 16.23 in late trade, Anadarko Petroleum Corp (NYSE:APC) which lost 5.56% to settle at 72.38 and SanDisk Corporation (NASDAQ:SNDK) which was down 5.43% to 53.81 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Celsus Theraptcs (NASDAQ:CLTX) which rose 287.75% to 3.955, Dot Hill Systems Corporation (NASDAQ:HILL) which was up 86.87% to settle at 9.680 and Corbus Pharmaceuticals Holding (NASDAQ:CRBP) which gained 34.41% to close at 2.50.
The worst performers were Tarena Intl Adr (NASDAQ:TEDU) which was down 28.49% to 8.71 in late trade, Flexsteel Industries Inc (NASDAQ:FLXS) which lost 19.21% to settle at 33.60 and Evoke Pharm (NASDAQ:EVOK) which was down 18.59% to 4.16 at the close.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 1881 to 587 and 2 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1848 fell and 700 advanced, while 6 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was up 10.59% to 15.25.
In commodities trading, Gold for December delivery was up 1.47% or 16.40 to $1133.40 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in October fell 5.07% or 2.19 to hit $40.94 a barrel, while the October Brent oil contract fell 3.97% or 1.94 to trade at $46.87 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.90% to 1.1124, while USD/JPY fell 0.44% to 123.85.
The US Dollar Index was down 0.58% at 96.42.