Investing.com – U.S. equities were lower at the close on Wednesday, as losses in the Industrials, Basic Materials and Consumer Goods sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.44%, while the S&P 500 index fell 0.18%, and the NASDAQ Composite index lost 0.09%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Merck & Company Inc (NYSE:MRK), which rose 2.28% or 1.65 points to trade at 74.05 at the close. Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) added 1.38% or 2.26 points to end at 165.65 and Amgen Inc (NASDAQ:AMGN) was up 1.13% or 2.67 points to 239.49 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Caterpillar Inc (NYSE:CAT), which lost 2.32% or 5.56 points to trade at 234.60 in late trade. Boeing Co (NYSE:BA) declined 1.85% or 4.68 points to end at 248.08 and American Express Company (NYSE:AXP) shed 1.45% or 2.42 points to 164.09.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Macy’s Inc (NYSE:M) which rose 4.87% to 19.59, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:REGN) which was up 3.09% to settle at 522.09 and Sempra Energy (NYSE:SRE) which gained 2.96% to close at 139.45.
The worst performers were DISH Network Corporation (NASDAQ:DISH) which was down 7.21% to 40.44 in late trade, Campbell Soup Company (NYSE:CPB) which lost 6.50% to settle at 45.92 and Brown Forman (NYSE:BFb) which was down 5.71% to 75.14 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Aethlon Medical Inc (NASDAQ:AEMD) which rose 383.71% to 10.690, American Software Inc (NASDAQ:AMSWA) which was up 38.86% to settle at 28.23 and Clean Energy Fuels Corp (NASDAQ:CLNE) which gained 31.41% to close at 13.010.
The worst performers were Atossa Genetics Inc (NASDAQ:ATOS) which was down 27.35% to 4.410 in late trade, Clover Health Investments Corp (NASDAQ:CLOV) which lost 23.39% to settle at 16.97 and SemiLEDS Corporation (NASDAQ:LEDS) which was down 22.22% to 20.090 at the close.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 1738 to 1445 and 135 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1852 fell and 1534 advanced, while 128 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was up 4.80% to 17.89.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for August delivery was down 0.17% or 3.25 to $1891.15 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in July fell 0.43% or 0.30 to hit $69.75 a barrel, while the August Brent oil contract fell 0.26% or 0.19 to trade at $72.03 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.05% to 1.2177, while USD/JPY rose 0.13% to 109.64.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.07% at 90.142.