Investing.com – U.S. equities were lower at the close on Wednesday, as losses in the Consumer Services, Basic Materials and Healthcare sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 1.94%, while the S&P 500 index lost 2.59%, and the NASDAQ Composite index declined 2.73%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were 3M Company (NYSE:MMM), which rose 6.11% or 10.75 points to trade at 186.70 at the close. Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc (NASDAQ:WBA) added 4.41% or 2.17 points to end at 51.36 and International Business Machines (NYSE:IBM) was up 1.06% or 1.30 points to 123.79 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Boeing Co (NYSE:BA), which lost 4.48% or 9.05 points to trade at 193.01 in late trade. Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS) declined 3.79% or 6.43 points to end at 163.13 and Merck & Company Inc (NYSE:MRK) shed 3.76% or 3.02 points to 77.23.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Macerich Company (NYSE:MAC) which rose 12.80% to 21.95, Seagate Technology PLC (NASDAQ:STX) which was up 11.83% to settle at 72.53 and Macy’s Inc (NYSE:M) which gained 10.92% to close at 17.57.
The worst performers were L Brands Inc (NYSE:LB) which was down 14.53% to 36.75 in late trade, Gap Inc (NYSE:GPS) which lost 10.49% to settle at 19.53 and Microchip Technology Inc (NASDAQ:MCHP) which was down 8.25% to 133.02 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Koss Corporation (NASDAQ:KOSS) which rose 426.80% to 52.680, Naked Brand Group Ltd (NASDAQ:NAKD) which was up 203.80% to settle at 1.190 and Fossil Group Inc (NASDAQ:FOSL) which gained 84.82% to close at 23.38.
The worst performers were Globus Maritime Ltd (NASDAQ:GLBS) which was down 22.01% to 5.4200 in late trade, Aikido Pharma Inc (NASDAQ:AIKI) which lost 21.23% to settle at 1.410 and ENDRA Life Sciences Inc (NASDAQ:NDRA) which was down 21.40% to 2.240 at the close.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 2576 to 566 and 51 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 2618 fell and 506 advanced, while 23 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was up 36.97% to 31.53 a new 1-month high.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for February delivery was down 0.62% or 11.40 to $1839.50 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in March unchanged 0.00% or 0.00 to hit $52.61 a barrel, while the April Brent oil contract fell 0.61% or 0.34 to trade at $55.30 a barrel.
EUR/USD was down 0.52% to 1.2096, while USD/JPY rose 0.57% to 104.19.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.56% at 90.657.