Investing.com – U.S. equities were lower at the close on Wednesday, as losses in the Utilities, Financials and Healthcare sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.81%, while the S&P 500 index fell 0.76%, and the NASDAQ Composite index declined 0.90%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were DowDuPont Inc (NYSE:DWDP), which rose 0.89% or 0.51 points to trade at 57.98 at the close. Verizon Communications Inc (NYSE:VZ) added 0.48% or 0.28 points to end at 58.94 and Home Depot Inc (NYSE:HD) was up 0.50% or 0.90 points to 179.90 in late trade.
Biggest losers included The Travelers Companies Inc (NYSE:TRV), which lost 2.97% or 3.77 points to trade at 123.04 in late trade. Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) declined 2.82% or 5.43 points to end at 186.80 and JPMorgan Chase & Co (NYSE:JPM) shed 2.06% or 2.26 points to 107.33.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Coty Inc (NYSE:COTY) which rose 6.62% to 8.70, Advanced Micro Devices Inc (NASDAQ:AMD) which was up 6.12% to settle at 20.810 and BorgWarner Inc (NYSE:BWA) which gained 3.51% to close at 39.18.
The worst performers were Pacific Gas & Electric Co (NYSE:PCG) which was down 21.79% to 25.59 in late trade, Progressive Corp (NYSE:PGR) which lost 9.48% to settle at 64.80 and CF Industries Holdings Inc (NYSE:CF) which was down 8.55% to 45.03 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Sphere 3D Corp (NASDAQ:ANY) which rose 58.18% to 2.610, Empire Resorts Inc (NASDAQ:NYNY) which was up 53.93% to settle at 13.130 and Presbia PLC (NASDAQ:LENS) which gained 24.08% to close at 0.906.
The worst performers were Seven Stars Cloud Group Inc (NASDAQ:IDEX) which was down 48.77% to 1.670 in late trade, Resonant Inc (NASDAQ:RESN) which lost 42.21% to settle at 1.670 and Five Star Quality Care Inc (NASDAQ:FVE) which was down 31.97% to 0.435 at the close.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 1689 to 1091 and 57 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1670 fell and 794 advanced, while 74 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was up 6.14% to 21.25.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for December delivery was up 1.07% or 12.80 to $1212.00 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in December rose 0.97% or 0.54 to hit $56.23 a barrel, while the January Brent oil contract rose 0.96% or 0.63 to trade at $66.10 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.23% to 1.1316, while USD/JPY fell 0.20% to 113.59.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.34% at 96.81.