Investing.com – U.S. equities were lower at the close on Wednesday, as losses in the Financials, Basic Materials and Industrials sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.77% to hit a new 1-month low, while the S&P 500 index fell 0.73%, and the NASDAQ Composite index fell 0.61%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Salesforce Inc (NYSE:CRM), which rose 1.17% or 2.42 points to trade at 209.06 at the close. Merck & Company Inc (NYSE:MRK) added 0.29% or 0.33 points to end at 113.60 and UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) was up 0.29% or 1.39 points to 480.83 in late trade.
Biggest losers included 3M Company (NYSE:MMM), which lost 3.68% or 3.71 points to trade at 96.99 in late trade. Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc (NASDAQ:WBA) declined 2.56% or 0.81 points to end at 30.79 and International Business Machines (NYSE:IBM) shed 1.95% or 2.50 points to 125.68.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Illumina Inc (NASDAQ:ILMN) which rose 4.05% to 212.65, Corning Incorporated (NYSE:GLW) which was up 2.47% to settle at 31.53 and Netflix Inc (NASDAQ:NFLX) which gained 2.49% to close at 364.85.
The worst performers were Signature Bank (OTC:SBNY) which was down 11.05% to 0.12 in late trade, First Republic Bank (OTC:FRCB) which lost 10.67% to settle at 0.31 and Analog Devices Inc (NASDAQ:ADI) which was down 7.83% to 173.20 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Minority Equality Opportunities Acquisition Inc (NASDAQ:MEOA) which rose 140.18% to 26.54, QuantaSing Group Ltd ADR (NASDAQ:QSG) which was up 130.30% to settle at 19.00 and Minerva Surgical Inc (NASDAQ:UTRS) which gained 83.01% to close at 0.33.
The worst performers were BIOLASE Inc (NASDAQ:BIOL) which was down 39.91% to 0.08 in late trade, QualTek Services Inc (NASDAQ:QTEK) which lost 38.70% to settle at 0.11 and Jupiter Wellness Acquisition Corp (NASDAQ:JWAC) which was down 37.77% to 4.58 at the close.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 2285 to 682 and 99 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 2460 fell and 1131 advanced, while 149 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was up 8.09% to 20.03.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for June delivery was down 0.70% or 13.75 to $1,960.75 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in July rose 1.40% or 1.02 to hit $73.93 a barrel, while the July Brent oil contract rose 1.55% or 1.19 to trade at $78.03 a barrel.
EUR/USD was unchanged 0.15% to 1.08, while USD/JPY rose 0.57% to 139.38.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.39% at 103.79.