Investing.com – U.S. equities were lower at the close on Wednesday, as losses in the Oil & Gas, Basic Materials and Technology sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.54%, while the S&P 500 index fell 0.76%, and the NASDAQ Composite index lost 1.23%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Merck & Company Inc (NYSE:MRK), which rose 1.35% or 0.90 points to trade at 67.36 at the close. Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) added 1.21% or 0.98 points to end at 82.29 and Pfizer Inc (NYSE:PFE) was up 1.11% or 0.45 points to 41.16 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Chevron Corp (NYSE:CVX), which lost 3.79% or 4.64 points to trade at 117.94 in late trade. Boeing Co (NYSE:BA) declined 2.18% or 7.40 points to end at 331.74 and Caterpillar Inc (NYSE:CAT) shed 2.15% or 2.90 points to 132.02.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc (NYSE:CMG) which rose 6.59% to 525.84, Kimberly-Clark Corporation (NYSE:KMB) which was up 4.81% to settle at 116.47 and Boston Scientific Corporation (NYSE:BSX) which gained 3.56% to close at 34.90.
The worst performers were Macy’s Inc (NYSE:M) which was down 15.96% to 35.15 in late trade, Freeport-McMoran Copper & Gold Inc (NYSE:FCX) which lost 7.67% to settle at 13.66 and Marathon Oil Corporation (NYSE:MRO) which was down 7.04% to 19.01 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Pain Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:PTIE) which rose 76.58% to 1.960, GWG Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:GWGH) which was up 36.54% to settle at 10.09 and Citius Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:CTXR) which gained 24.06% to close at 1.650.
The worst performers were Yogaworks Inc (NASDAQ:YOGA) which was down 41.40% to 1.09 in late trade, ParkerVision Inc (NASDAQ:PRKR) which lost 33.97% to settle at 0.3830 and ReShape Lifesciences Inc (NASDAQ:RSLS) which was down 33.41% to 0.0815 at the close.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 2113 to 967 and 41 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1965 fell and 632 advanced, while 94 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was up 9.99% to 14.64.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for December delivery was down 1.47% or 17.70 to $1183.00 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in September fell 3.16% or 2.12 to hit $64.92 a barrel, while the October Brent oil contract fell 2.30% or 1.67 to trade at $70.79 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.06% to 1.1352, while USD/JPY fell 0.40% to 110.72.
The US Dollar Index Futures was unchanged 0.00% at 96.55.