Investing.com – U.S. equities were lower at the close on Wednesday, as losses in the Telecoms, Utilities and Consumer Goods sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.07%, while the S&P 500 index declined 0.11%, and the NASDAQ Composite index lost 0.14%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were General Electric Company (NYSE:GE), which rose 1.99% or 0.37 points to trade at 18.93 at the close. JPMorgan Chase & Co (NYSE:JPM) added 1.10% or 1.20 points to end at 110.25 and Merck & Company Inc (NYSE:MRK) was up 0.88% or 0.50 points to 57.30 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC), which lost 2.57% or 1.12 points to trade at 42.50 in late trade. DowDuPont Inc (NYSE:DWDP) declined 1.51% or 1.14 points to end at 74.20 and Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE:XOM) shed 0.80% or 0.69 points to 86.08.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were United Continental Holdings Inc (NYSE:UAL) which rose 6.72% to 73.08, Intuitive Surgical Inc (NASDAQ:ISRG) which was up 6.58% to settle at 423.76 and Discovery Communications C Inc (NASDAQ:DISCK) which gained 5.80% to close at 21.69.
The worst performers were Signet Jewelers Ltd (NYSE:SIG) which was down 6.89% to 52.69 in late trade, eBay Inc (NASDAQ:EBAY) which lost 4.63% to settle at 37.70 and Dentsply Sirona Inc (NASDAQ:XRAY) which was down 4.11% to 62.76 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Ameri Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:AMRH) which rose 71.93% to 5.88, SemiLEDS Corporation (NASDAQ:LEDS) which was up 71.47% to settle at 6.5500 and National Holdings (NASDAQ:NHLD) which gained 64.80% to close at 5.2900.
The worst performers were Akers Biosciences Inc (NASDAQ:AKER) which was down 14.51% to 0.165 in late trade, Chinanet Online Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:CNET) which lost 15.32% to settle at 5.0300 and Diffusion Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:DFFN) which was down 13.88% to 1.4899 at the close.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 1870 to 1201 and 133 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1252 rose and 1248 declined, while 136 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 2.08% to 9.87.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for February delivery was up 0.31% or 4.10 to $1317.80 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in February rose 0.73% or 0.46 to hit $63.42 a barrel, while the March Brent oil contract rose 0.32% or 0.22 to trade at $69.04 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.15% to 1.1954, while USD/JPY fell 1.10% to 111.42.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.17% at 92.07.