Investing.com – U.S. equities were lower at the close on Wednesday, as losses in the Telecoms, Technology and Utilities sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in New York, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.48%, while the S&P 500 index fell 0.45%, and the NASDAQ Composite index declined 0.40%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG), which rose 0.41% or 0.33 points to trade at 80.40 at the close. Cisco Systems Inc (NASDAQ:CSCO) added 0.28% or 0.08 points to end at 28.97 and McDonald`s Corporation (NYSE:MCD) was up 0.27% or 0.26 points to 96.39 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT), which lost 2.77% or 1.32 points to trade at 46.28 in late trade. Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) declined 1.29% or 0.42 points to end at 32.22 and Pfizer Inc (NYSE:PFE) shed 1.12% or 0.38 points to 33.46.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Western Union Company (NYSE:WU) which rose 4.30% to 21.85, Anthem Inc (NYSE:ANTM) which was up 3.66% to settle at 159.8500 and Expeditors International Washington (NASDAQ:EXPD) which gained 3.01% to close at 48.11.
The worst performers were Frontier Communications Corporation (NASDAQ:FTR) which was down 11.87% to 5.94 in late trade, Alexion Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:ALXN) which lost 8.03% to settle at 155.01 and Chesapeake Energy Corporation (NYSE:CHK) which was down 7.19% to 14.72 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Synageva BioPharma Corp (NASDAQ:GEVA) which rose 112.15% to 203.39, Borderfree Inc (NASDAQ:BRDR) which was up 105.15% to settle at 13.93 and Fate Therap (NASDAQ:FATE) which gained 45.97% to close at 7.24.
The worst performers were Tetralogic Phrm (NASDAQ:TLOG) which was down 36.51% to 2.40 in late trade, ANADIGICS Inc (NASDAQ:ANAD) which lost 26.15% to settle at 0.960 and Andatee China Marine Fuel Services (NASDAQ:AMCF) which was down 25.00% to 0.525 at the close.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 1840 to 1300 and 1 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1444 fell and 1348 advanced, while 3 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was up 5.80% to 15.14 a new 1-month high.
In commodities trading, Gold for June delivery was down 0.18% or 2.10 to $1191.10 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in June rose 0.45% or 0.27 to hit $60.67 a barrel, while the June Brent oil contract rose 0.00% or 0.01 to trade at $67.53 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 1.45% to 1.1348, while USD/JPY fell 0.35% to 119.42.
The US Dollar Index was down 1.13% at 94.19.