Investing.com – U.S. stocks were lower after the close on Wednesday, as losses in the Oil & Gas, Utilities and Basic Materials sectors led shares lower.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 0.88%, while the S&P 500 index lost 1.10%, and the NASDAQ Composite index lost 0.64%.
The best performers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (N:UNH), which rose 1.67% or 1.93 points to trade at 117.69 at the close. Meanwhile, EI du Pont de Nemours and Company (N:DD) fell 0.01% or 0.01 points to end at 67.27 and Microsoft Corporation (O:MSFT) was down 0.02% or 0.01 points to 55.21 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Exxon Mobil Corporation (N:XOM), which fell 2.85% or 2.33 points to trade at 79.56 at the close. Chevron Corporation (N:CVX) declined 2.41% or 2.23 points to end at 90.25 and Pfizer Inc (N:PFE) was down 2.14% or 0.72 points to 32.90.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Yahoo! Inc (O:YHOO) which rose 5.75% to 35.65, Qualcomm Incorporated (O:QCOM) which was up 5.17% to settle at 51.85 and Columbia Pipeline Group Inc (N:CPGX) which gained 3.88% to close at 19.79.
The worst performers were NRG Energy Inc (N:NRG) which was down 12.63% to 10.79 in late trade, Kinder Morgan Inc (N:KMI) which lost 7.85% to settle at 20.66 and ONEOK Inc (N:OKE) which was down 7.60% to 26.99 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Truett Hurs (O:THST) which rose 36.99% to 1.40, Ascent Solar Technologies Inc (O:ASTI) which was up 22.58% to settle at 0.190 and Lilis Energy Inc (O:LLEX) which gained 22.11% to close at 0.110.
The worst performers were Zafgen Inc (O:ZFGN) which was down 60.58% to 6.28 in late trade, Spherix Incorporated (O:SPEX) which lost 47.76% to settle at 0.175 and Net Element International, Inc. (O:NETE) which was down 42.09% to 0.24 at the close.
Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the New York Stock Exchange by 2657 to 797 and 2 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1722 fell and 900 advanced, while 61 ended unchanged.
Shares in NRG Energy Inc (N:NRG) fell to 5-year lows; down 12.63% or 1.56 to 10.79. Shares in Kinder Morgan Inc (N:KMI) fell to all time lows; down 7.85% or 1.76 to 20.66. Shares in ONEOK Inc (N:OKE) fell to 3-years lows; down 7.60% or 2.22 to 26.99. Shares in Zafgen Inc (O:ZFGN) fell to all time lows; losing 60.58% or 9.65 to 6.28. Shares in Spherix Incorporated (O:SPEX) fell to all time lows; losing 47.76% or 0.160 to 0.175.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was up 9.75% to 16.10.
Gold for February delivery was down 1.05% or 11.20 to $1052.30 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in January fell 4.00% or 1.68 to hit $40.17 a barrel, while the January Brent oil contract fell 3.75% or 1.67 to trade at $42.77 a barrel.
EUR/USD was down 0.20% to 1.0613, while USD/JPY rose 0.31% to 123.25.
The US Dollar Index was up 0.18% at 100.05.