Investing.com – U.S. equities were lower at the close on Wednesday, as losses in the Utilities, Consumer Goods and Oil & Gas sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 1.81%, while the S&P 500 index lost 1.56%, and the NASDAQ Composite index declined 1.24%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE:GS), which fell 0.24% or 0.83 points to trade at 349.09 at the close. Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) fell 0.55% or 0.75 points to end at 135.19 and The Travelers Companies Inc (NYSE:TRV) was down 0.74% or 1.37 points to 183.63 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Honeywell International Inc (NASDAQ:HON), which lost 3.77% or 8.00 points to trade at 204.24 in late trade. International Business Machines (NYSE:IBM) declined 3.29% or 4.78 points to end at 140.41 and 3M Company (NYSE:MMM) shed 3.04% or 3.85 points to 122.75.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were JB Hunt Transport Services Inc (NASDAQ:JBHT) which rose 4.95% to 185.02, Moderna Inc (NASDAQ:MRNA) which was up 3.32% to settle at 197.02 and Seagate Technology PLC (NASDAQ:STX) which gained 3.04% to close at 58.71.
The worst performers were Kraft Heinz Co (NASDAQ:KHC) which was down 6.31% to 39.66 in late trade, PNC Financial Services Group Inc (NYSE:PNC) which lost 6.04% to settle at 152.07 and CarMax Inc (NYSE:KMX) which was down 5.98% to 63.41 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Ontrak Inc (NASDAQ:OTRK) which rose 94.78% to 1.12, Nuzee Inc (NASDAQ:NUZE) which was up 54.42% to settle at 15.55 and Magic Empire Global Ltd (NASDAQ:MEGL) which gained 44.29% to close at 3.03.
The worst performers were Bit Brother Ltd (NASDAQ:BTB) which was down 69.43% to 2.03 in late trade, Arcimoto Inc (NASDAQ:FUV) which lost 59.48% to settle at 2.48 and Bruush Oral Care Inc Unit (NASDAQ:BRSH) which was down 26.53% to 0.43 at the close.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 2115 to 980 and 89 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 2569 fell and 1175 advanced, while 158 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was up 5.06% to 20.34.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for February delivery was down 0.18% or 3.35 to $1,906.55 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in March fell 1.08% or 0.87 to hit $79.58 a barrel, while the March Brent oil contract fell 1.40% or 1.20 to trade at $84.72 a barrel.
EUR/USD was unchanged 0.05% to 1.08, while USD/JPY rose 0.53% to 128.80.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.01% at 102.15.