U.S. shares lower at close of trade; Dow Jones Industrial Average down 3.57%

© Reuters U.S. shares lower at close of trade; Dow Jones Industrial Average down 3.57%

Investing.com – U.S. equities were lower at the close on Wednesday, as losses in the Consumer Services, Consumer Goods and Technology sectors propelled shares lower.

At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 3.57% to hit a new 52-week low, while the S&P 500 index fell 4.04%, and the NASDAQ Composite index fell 4.73%.

The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Verizon Communications Inc (NYSE:VZ), which fell 0.10% or 0.05 points to trade at 48.89 at the close. Amgen Inc (NASDAQ:AMGN) fell 0.57% or 1.39 points to end at 243.96 and Merck & Company Inc (NYSE:MRK) was down 0.97% or 0.90 points to 92.10 in late trade.

Biggest losers included Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc (NASDAQ:WBA), which lost 8.39% or 3.77 points to trade at 41.17 in late trade. Coca-Cola Co (NYSE:KO) declined 6.96% or 4.58 points to end at 61.20 and Walmart Inc (NYSE:WMT) shed 6.79% or 8.92 points to 122.43.

The top performers on the S&P 500 were TJX Companies Inc (NYSE:TJX) which rose 7.12% to 60.19, Assurant Inc (NYSE:AIZ) which was up 1.31% to settle at 186.85 and NRG Energy Inc (NYSE:NRG) which gained 1.24% to close at 45.76.

The worst performers were Target Corporation (NYSE:TGT) which was down 24.93% to 161.61 in late trade, Dollar Tree Inc (NASDAQ:DLTR) which lost 14.42% to settle at 133.80 and Old Dominion Freight Line Inc (NASDAQ:ODFL) which was down 12.97% to 236.47 at the close.

The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Troika Media Group Inc (NASDAQ:TRKA) which rose 48.21% to 0.58, Magenta Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:MGTA) which was up 32.20% to settle at 1.56 and Ricebran Tech (NASDAQ:RIBT) which gained 22.08% to close at 0.72.

The worst performers were Endo International PLC (NASDAQ:ENDP) which was down 46.54% to 0.62 in late trade, Baudax Bio Inc (NASDAQ:BXRX) which lost 31.53% to settle at 0.81 and INVO Bioscience Inc (NASDAQ:INVO) which was down 29.45% to 1.09 at the close.

Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 2730 to 459 and 100 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 3017 fell and 759 advanced, while 235 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.

The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was up 18.62% to 30.96.

In commodities trading, Gold Futures for June delivery was down 0.26% or 4.75 to $1,814.15 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in July fell 2.72% or 2.98 to hit $106.65 a barrel, while the July Brent oil contract fell 2.57% or 2.88 to trade at $109.05 a barrel.

EUR/USD was down 0.82% to 1.05, while USD/JPY fell 0.92% to 128.21.

The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.53% at 103.96.