Investing.com – U.S. equities were lower at the close on Wednesday, as losses in the Technology, Healthcare and Consumer Services sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in New York, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1.62%, while the S&P 500 index declined 1.46%, and the NASDAQ Composite index fell 2.37%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Chevron Corporation (NYSE:CVX), which rose 1.41% or 1.47 points to trade at 105.67 at the close. Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE:XOM) added 0.39% or 0.33 points to end at 84.85 and Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO) was down 0.05% or 0.02 points to 40.45 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT), which lost 3.36% or 1.44 points to trade at 41.46 in late trade. Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) declined 2.92% or 0.90 points to end at 29.89 and Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) shed 2.61% or 3.31 points to 123.38.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Kraft Foods Group Inc (NASDAQ:KRFT) which rose 35.62% to 83.17, Noble Corporation PLC (NYSE:NE) which was up 3.90% to settle at 14.65 and ENSCO plc (NYSE:ESV) which gained 3.62% to close at 21.76.
The worst performers were Lam Research Corporation (NASDAQ:LRCX) which was down 7.63% to 72.75 in late trade, Avago Technologies Limited (NASDAQ:AVGO) which lost 6.53% to settle at 124.43 and NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) which was down 6.07% to 21.04 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Kofax Ltd (NASDAQ:KFX) which rose 46.00% to 10.95, Kraft Foods Group Inc (NASDAQ:KRFT) which was up 35.62% to settle at 83.17 and Vascular Biogenc (NASDAQ:VBLT) which gained 30.32% to close at 7.22.
The worst performers were Netlist Inc (NASDAQ:NLST) which was down 49.70% to 0.679 in late trade, Apollo Group Inc (NASDAQ:APOL) which lost 28.40% to settle at 20.04 and Lpath Inc (NASDAQ:LPTN) which was down 22.94% to 2.520 at the close.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 2273 to 530; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 2313 fell and 457 advanced, while 9 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was up 13.22% to 15.42.
In commodities trading, Gold for April delivery was up 0.30% or 3.60 to $1195.00 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in May rose 3.14% or 1.49 to hit $49.00 a barrel, while the May Brent oil contract rose 2.15% or 1.19 to trade at $56.30 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.45% to 1.0975, while USD/JPY fell 0.28% to 119.42.
The US Dollar Index was down 0.35% at 97.08.