Investing.com – U.S. equities were lower at the close on Wednesday, as losses in the Healthcare, Consumer Services and Industrials sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in New York, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.44%, while the S&P 500 index fell 0.40%, and the NASDAQ Composite index lost 0.42%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE:GS), which rose 2.27% or 4.26 points to trade at 192.23 at the close. American Express Company (NYSE:AXP) added 1.04% or 0.81 points to end at 78.93 and Verizon Communications Inc (NYSE:VZ) was up 0.60% or 0.29 points to 48.92 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Wal-Mart Stores Inc (NYSE:WMT), which lost 1.87% or 1.54 points to trade at 80.71 in late trade. Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) declined 1.50% or 0.47 points to end at 30.80 and 3M Company (NYSE:MMM) shed 1.47% or 2.43 points to 162.52.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Windstream Corporation (NASDAQ:WIN) which rose 5.00% to 7.77, Newmont Mining Corporation (NYSE:NEM) which was up 4.65% to settle at 22.72 and Kraft Foods Group Inc (NASDAQ:KRFT) which gained 4.12% to close at 90.70.
The worst performers were Macerich Company (NYSE:MAC) which was down 6.64% to 78.73 in late trade, NRG Energy Inc (NYSE:NRG) which lost 6.31% to settle at 23.60 and American Airlines Group (NASDAQ:AAL) which was down 4.43% to 50.44 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Motricity (NASDAQ:VLTC) which rose 147.52% to 2.500, Dyax Corp (NASDAQ:DYAX) which was up 53.69% to settle at 25.750 and Nymox Pharmaceutical Corporation (NASDAQ:NYMX) which gained 49.64% to close at 1.257.
The worst performers were ROI Acquisition Corp (NASDAQ:EVRY) which was down 81.25% to 0.225 in late trade, Response Genetics Inc (NASDAQ:RGDX) which lost 38.64% to settle at 0.270 and Cytosorbents Crp (NASDAQ:CTSO) which was down 31.61% to 9.02 at the close.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 1423 to 1394; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1540 fell and 1244 advanced, while 4 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 1.31% to 15.09.
In commodities trading, Gold for June delivery was up 1.78% or 21.10 to $1204.30 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in May rose 4.36% or 2.08 to hit $49.67 a barrel, while the May Brent oil contract rose 2.95% or 1.62 to trade at $56.73 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.24% to 1.0759, while USD/JPY fell 0.35% to 119.72.
The US Dollar Index was down 0.17% at 98.53.