Investing.com – U.S. equities were lower at the close on Wednesday, as losses in the Basic Materials, Healthcare and Industrials sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in New York, the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.98%, while the S&P 500 index lost 0.74%, and the NASDAQ Composite index declined 0.73%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL), which rose 0.91% or 1.15 points to trade at 128.18 at the close. Wal-Mart Stores Inc (NYSE:WMT) fell 0.26% or 0.19 points to end at 72.38 and Caterpillar Inc (NYSE:CAT) was down 0.32% or 0.28 points to 88.17 in late trade.
Biggest losers included EI du Pont de Nemours and Company (NYSE:DD), which lost 3.36% or 2.30 points to trade at 66.20 in late trade. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) declined 2.91% or 3.57 points to end at 119.17 and Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE:GS) shed 1.82% or 3.97 points to 214.43.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Lennar Corporation (NYSE:LEN) which rose 4.20% to 51.06, Sysco Corporation (NYSE:SYY) which was up 3.09% to settle at 38.75 and Freeport-McMoran Copper & Gold Inc (NYSE:FCX) which gained 2.24% to close at 20.56.
The worst performers were Monsanto Company (NYSE:MON) which was down 5.73% to 106.32 in late trade, NetApp Inc (NASDAQ:NTAP) which lost 3.97% to settle at 33.18 and Staples Inc (NASDAQ:SPLS) which was down 3.94% to 15.85 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Turtle Beach Corp (NASDAQ:HEAR) which rose 34.62% to 2.800, MeetMe Inc (NASDAQ:MEET) which was up 27.78% to settle at 1.840 and Internet Patents Corporation (NASDAQ:PTNT) which gained 27.53% to close at 3.15.
The worst performers were Local Corporation (NASDAQ:LOCM) which was down 74.94% to 0.070 in late trade, Transition Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:TTHI) which lost 74.15% to settle at 2.350 and DS Healthcare Group Inc (NASDAQ:DSKX) which was down 17.74% to 3.710 at the close.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 2458 to 676 and 2 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 2062 fell and 732 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 9.99% to 13.32.
In commodities trading, Gold for August delivery was down 0.20% or 2.30 to $1174.30 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in August fell 1.22% or 0.74 to hit $60.27 a barrel, while the August Brent oil contract fell 1.32% or 0.85 to trade at $63.60 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.32% to 1.1204, while USD/JPY fell 0.07% to 123.86.
The US Dollar Index was down 0.16% at 95.45.