Investing.com – U.S. equities were lower at the close on Wednesday, as losses in the Oil & Gas, Basic Materials and Consumer Services sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.08%, while the S&P 500 index fell 0.22%, and the NASDAQ Composite index lost 0.36%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH), which rose 1.20% or 3.19 points to trade at 269.50 at the close. American Express Company (NYSE:AXP) added 1.02% or 1.06 points to end at 104.96 and 3M Company (NYSE:MMM) was up 0.72% or 1.45 points to 202.57 in late trade.
Biggest losers included DowDuPont Inc (NYSE:DWDP), which lost 1.94% or 1.05 points to trade at 53.21 in late trade. Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) declined 1.11% or 1.19 points to end at 106.03 and Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS) shed 1.11% or 1.25 points to 111.41.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Skyworks Solutions Inc (NASDAQ:SWKS) which rose 11.49% to 84.69, Capri Holdings Ltd (NYSE:CPRI) which was up 11.30% to settle at 48.47 and Microchip Technology Incorporated (NASDAQ:MCHP) which gained 7.29% to close at 89.31.
The worst performers were Electronic Arts Inc (NASDAQ:EA) which was down 13.31% to 80.21 in late trade, Activision Blizzard Inc (NASDAQ:ATVI) which lost 10.12% to settle at 43.00 and Anadarko Petroleum Corp (NYSE:APC) which was down 7.40% to 45.45 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were MacroGenics Inc (NASDAQ:MGNX) which rose 130.42% to 25.60, Applied DNA Sciences Inc (NASDAQ:APDN) which was up 35.61% to settle at 0.664 and Jason Industries Inc (NASDAQ:JASN) which gained 31.21% to close at 2.060.
The worst performers were Phunware Inc (NASDAQ:PHUN) which was down 43.62% to 119.00 in late trade, Catabasis Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:CATB) which lost 23.64% to settle at 4.620 and Vanda Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:VNDA) which was down 19.95% to 20.06 at the close.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 1778 to 1244 and 104 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1314 fell and 1292 advanced, while 97 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 1.22% to 15.38 a new 3-month low.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for April delivery was down 0.66% or 8.65 to $1310.55 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in March rose 0.58% or 0.31 to hit $53.97 a barrel, while the April Brent oil contract rose 1.05% or 0.65 to trade at $62.63 a barrel.
EUR/USD was down 0.42% to 1.1364, while USD/JPY rose 0.01% to 109.97.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.34% at 96.140.