Investing.com – U.S. equities were lower at the close on Wednesday, as losses in the Basic Materials, Consumer Goods and Telecoms sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 1.23%, while the S&P 500 index lost 1.09%, and the NASDAQ Composite index declined 1.19%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL), which rose 2.04% or 4.26 points to trade at 213.30 at the close. JPMorgan Chase & Co (NYSE:JPM) added 0.35% or 0.41 points to end at 115.96 and Pfizer Inc (NYSE:PFE) was up 0.18% or 0.07 points to 38.86 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT), which lost 2.91% or 4.08 points to trade at 136.46 in late trade. Verizon Communications Inc (NYSE:VZ) declined 2.53% or 1.43 points to end at 55.20 and UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) shed 2.33% or 5.93 points to 249.00.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Nordstrom Inc (NYSE:JWN) which rose 7.85% to 33.10, Aptiv PLC (NYSE:APTV) which was up 7.60% to settle at 87.77 and Edison International (NYSE:EIX) which gained 6.12% to close at 74.57.
The worst performers were Advanced Micro Devices Inc (NASDAQ:AMD) which was down 10.10% to 30.43 in late trade, Maxim Integrated Products Inc (NASDAQ:MXIM) which lost 7.70% to settle at 59.19 and Micron Technology Inc (NASDAQ:MU) which was down 5.42% to 44.89 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Benitec Biopharma Ltd ADR (NASDAQ:BNTC) which rose 39.25% to 0.8500, Enphase Energy Inc (NASDAQ:ENPH) which was up 30.02% to settle at 28.150 and Big 5 Sporting Goods Corporation (NASDAQ:BGFV) which gained 29.09% to close at 2.13.
The worst performers were 2U Inc (NASDAQ:TWOU) which was down 64.93% to 12.80 in late trade, T2 Biosystms Inc (NASDAQ:TTOO) which lost 59.03% to settle at 0.59 and Sigma Labs Inc (NASDAQ:SGLB) which was down 39.68% to 0.760 at the close.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 1922 to 1104 and 10 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1814 fell and 841 advanced, while 102 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was up 15.64% to 16.12 a new 1-month high.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for August delivery was down 1.15% or 16.40 to $1413.30 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in September fell 0.34% or 0.20 to hit $57.85 a barrel, while the October Brent oil contract fell 0.05% or 0.03 to trade at $64.30 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.02% to 1.1077, while USD/JPY rose 0.00% to 108.75.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.55% at 98.347.