Investing.com – U.S. equities were lower at the close on Wednesday, as losses in the Telecoms, Basic Materials and Industrials sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.47%, while the S&P 500 index fell 0.40%, and the NASDAQ Composite index fell 0.11%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS), which rose 1.90% or 1.98 points to trade at 106.31 at the close. Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE:GS) added 0.52% or 1.20 points to end at 233.83 and Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) was up 0.38% or 0.21 points to 55.03 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Verizon Communications Inc (NYSE:VZ), which lost 2.89% or 1.41 points to trade at 47.40 in late trade. Boeing Co (NYSE:BA) declined 1.83% or 6.77 points to end at 363.85 and Caterpillar Inc (NYSE:CAT) shed 1.77% or 2.78 points to 154.71.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Twenty-First Century Fox Inc A (NASDAQ:FOXA) which rose 7.70% to 43.66, Twenty-First Century Fox Inc (NASDAQ:FOX) which was up 7.48% to settle at 43.41 and Netflix Inc (NASDAQ:NFLX) which gained 4.43% to close at 379.93.
The worst performers were H&R Block Inc (NYSE:HRB) which was down 17.94% to 24.29 in late trade, PulteGroup Inc (NYSE:PHM) which lost 6.67% to settle at 30.78 and Boston Scientific Corporation (NYSE:BSX) which was down 6.24% to 31.73 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Enphase Energy Inc (NASDAQ:ENPH) which rose 32.89% to 5.980, Spi Energy Co Ltd (NASDAQ:SPI) which was up 23.99% to settle at 0.43 and Galectin Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:GALT) which gained 23.54% to close at 7.820.
The worst performers were Flex Pharma Inc (NASDAQ:FLKS) which was down 75.12% to 1.04 in late trade, Scpharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:SCPH) which lost 22.08% to settle at 5.93 and Ohr Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:OHRP) which was down 19.03% to 0.260 at the close.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 2037 to 1019 and 129 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1395 fell and 1134 advanced, while 150 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was up 3.65% to 12.79.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for August delivery was up 0.26% or 3.40 to $1302.80 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in July rose 0.47% or 0.31 to hit $66.67 a barrel, while the August Brent oil contract rose 0.96% or 0.73 to trade at $76.61 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.37% to 1.1788, while USD/JPY fell 0.02% to 110.35.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.26% at 93.59.