Investing.com – U.S. equities were lower at the close on Wednesday, as losses in the Oil & Gas, Technology and Financials sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.17%, while the S&P 500 index fell 0.21%, and the NASDAQ Composite index lost 0.38%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ), which rose 1.36% or 1.90 points to trade at 141.68 at the close. Pfizer Inc (NYSE:PFE) added 0.96% or 0.41 points to end at 43.08 and Verizon Communications Inc (NYSE:VZ) was up 0.93% or 0.53 points to 57.36 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE:GS), which lost 2.32% or 4.51 points to trade at 190.22 in late trade. Cisco Systems Inc (NASDAQ:CSCO) declined 2.19% or 1.25 points to end at 55.86 and Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc (NASDAQ:WBA) shed 1.44% or 0.76 points to 52.12.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Mattel Inc (NASDAQ:MAT) which rose 5.27% to 11.38, Alexion Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:ALXN) which was up 3.00% to settle at 120.65 and Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE:LLY) which gained 2.70% to close at 115.24.
The worst performers were Chesapeake Energy Corporation (NYSE:CHK) which was down 7.37% to 1.760 in late trade, Signet Jewelers Ltd (NYSE:SIG) which lost 5.65% to settle at 18.69 and Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) which was down 5.65% to 36.24 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Insys Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:INSY) which rose 139.44% to 0.34, Histogenics Corp (NASDAQ:HSGX) which was up 36.41% to settle at 0.300 and B Communications Ltd (NASDAQ:BCOM) which gained 28.89% to close at 1.74.
The worst performers were Adynxx Inc (NASDAQ:ADYX) which was down 39.23% to 3.610 in late trade, Hooker Furniture Corporation (NASDAQ:HOFT) which lost 24.36% to settle at 20.37 and Jaguar Health Inc (NASDAQ:JAGX) which was down 23.27% to 7.780 at the close.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 1550 to 1428 and 99 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1340 fell and 1320 advanced, while 83 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 0.50% to 15.91.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for August delivery was up 0.46% or 6.10 to $1337.30 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in July fell 4.09% or 2.18 to hit $51.09 a barrel, while the August Brent oil contract fell 0.13% or 0.08 to trade at $59.80 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.02% to 1.1289, while USD/JPY fell 0.01% to 108.47.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.33% at 96.968.