Investing.com – U.S. equities were lower at the close on Wednesday, as losses in the Basic Materials, Utilities and Oil & Gas sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.56%, while the S&P 500 index fell 0.84%, and the NASDAQ Composite index lost 0.89%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were The Travelers Companies Inc (NYSE:TRV), which rose 0.08% or 0.10 points to trade at 122.08 at the close. Visa Inc (NYSE:V) fell 0.06% or 0.05 points to end at 78.30 and Home Depot Inc (NYSE:HD) was down 0.14% or 0.19 points to 135.07 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Caterpillar Inc (NYSE:CAT), which lost 1.48% or 1.40 points to trade at 93.15 in late trade. Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) declined 1.19% or 0.44 points to end at 36.63 and Boeing Company (NYSE:BA) shed 0.88% or 1.38 points to 156.10.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Coach Inc (NYSE:COH) which rose 2.03% to 35.14, Allergan Plc (NYSE:AGN) which was up 1.78% to settle at 204.06 and Constellation Brands Inc (NYSE:STZ) which gained 0.83% to close at 152.39.
The worst performers were NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) which was down 6.88% to 109.25 in late trade, Chesapeake Energy Corporation (NYSE:CHK) which lost 4.74% to settle at 7.230 and Mallinckrodt (NYSE:MNK) which was down 4.02% to 49.69 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Monster Digital Inc (NASDAQ:MSDI) which rose 76.50% to 2.15, Interpace Diagnostics Group Inc (NASDAQ:IDXG) which was up 29.76% to settle at 0.7500 and Dataram Corp (NASDAQ:DRAM) which gained 26.70% to close at 2.4200.
The worst performers were Anthera Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:ANTH) which was down 63.08% to 0.742 in late trade, Ignite Restaurant Group Inc (NASDAQ:IRG) which lost 23.61% to settle at 0.550 and Eco Stim Energy Solutions Inc (NASDAQ:ESES) which was down 18.52% to 1.100 at the close.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 2303 to 924 and 40 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1884 fell and 642 advanced, while 92 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was up 7.59% to 12.90.
In commodities trading, Gold for February delivery was up 0.40% or 4.50 to $1143.30 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in February rose 0.04% or 0.02 to hit $53.92 a barrel, while the March Brent oil contract rose 0.12% or 0.07 to trade at $56.90 a barrel.
EUR/USD was down 0.37% to 1.0416, while USD/JPY fell 0.20% to 117.17.
The US Dollar Index was up 0.19% at 103.20.