Investing.com – U.S. equities were lower at the close on Wednesday, as losses in the Oil & Gas, Consumer Services and Consumer Goods sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 1.95%, while the S&P 500 index declined 2.08%, and the NASDAQ Composite index fell 2.48%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Merck & Company Inc (NYSE:MRK), which rose 0.09% or 0.09 points to trade at 101.59 at the close. McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE:MCD) fell 0.22% or 0.61 points to end at 277.79 and Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) was down 0.24% or 0.33 points to 136.48 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS), which lost 13.16% or 13.15 points to trade at 86.75 in late trade. Chevron Corp (NYSE:CVX) declined 4.00% or 7.41 points to end at 177.93 and Dow Inc (NYSE:DOW) shed 3.97% or 1.97 points to 47.68.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Akamai Technologies Inc (NASDAQ:AKAM) which rose 6.19% to 89.08, Gen Digital Inc (NASDAQ:GEN) which was up 6.01% to settle at 22.92 and Bio-Rad Laboratories Inc (NYSE:BIO) which gained 5.67% to close at 403.49.
The worst performers were Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS) which was down 13.16% to 86.75 in late trade, Occidental Petroleum Corporation (NYSE:OXY) which lost 9.22% to settle at 67.93 and Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd (NYSE:NCLH) which was down 8.62% to 15.79 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Merrimack Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:MACK) which rose 212.75% to 12.51, Outset Medical Inc (NASDAQ:OM) which was up 29.90% to settle at 14.90 and Neurobo Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:NRBO) which gained 29.60% to close at 1.62.
The worst performers were Clovis Oncology Inc (NASDAQ:CLVS) which was down 71.62% to 0.28 in late trade, Telos Corp (NASDAQ:TLS) which lost 68.84% to settle at 3.44 and Athersys Inc (NASDAQ:ATHX) which was down 56.45% to 0.56 at the close.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 2535 to 590 and 93 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 2849 fell and 894 advanced, while 229 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was up 2.15% to 26.09.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for December delivery was down 0.45% or 7.65 to $1,708.35 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in December fell 3.78% or 3.36 to hit $85.55 a barrel, while the January Brent oil contract fell 3.15% or 3.00 to trade at $92.36 a barrel.
EUR/USD was down 0.63% to 1.00, while USD/JPY rose 0.52% to 146.41.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.75% at 110.37.