Investing.com – U.S. equities were lower at the close on Wednesday, as losses in the Utilities, Financials and Industrials sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 4.44%, while the S&P 500 index lost 4.41%, and the NASDAQ Composite index declined 4.41%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Walmart Inc (NYSE:WMT), which rose 0.46% or 0.52 points to trade at 114.14 at the close. Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) fell 0.61% or 0.67 points to end at 109.33 and Exxon Mobil Corp (NYSE:XOM) was down 1.16% or 0.44 points to 37.53 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Boeing Co (NYSE:BA), which lost 12.36% or 18.44 points to trade at 130.70 in late trade. American Express Company (NYSE:AXP) declined 9.08% or 7.77 points to end at 77.84 and Dow Inc (NYSE:DOW) shed 7.52% or 2.20 points to 27.04.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Newmont Goldcorp Corp (NYSE:NEM) which rose 2.63% to 46.47, Target Corporation (NYSE:TGT) which was up 2.47% to settle at 95.27 and Kellogg Company (NYSE:K) which gained 1.83% to close at 61.09.
The worst performers were Carnival Corporation (NYSE:CCL) which was down 33.18% to 8.80 in late trade, Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd (NYSE:RCL) which lost 19.89% to settle at 25.77 and United Airlines Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:UAL) which was down 18.70% to 25.65 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Diffusion Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:DFFN) which rose 61.09% to 0.5100, InflaRx N.V. (NASDAQ:IFRX) which was up 50.00% to settle at 5.73 and Dynatronics Corporation (NASDAQ:DYNT) which gained 47.05% to close at 1.270.
The worst performers were Akorn Inc (NASDAQ:AKRX) which was down 64.49% to 0.199 in late trade, Vivus Inc (NASDAQ:VVUS) which lost 59.17% to settle at 1.470 and SG Blocks Inc (NASDAQ:SGBX) which was down 39.57% to 5.6200 at the close.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 2673 to 240 and 18 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 2384 fell and 315 advanced, while 35 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was up 6.57% to 57.06.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for June delivery was up 0.42% or 6.75 to $1603.35 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in May rose 3.47% or 0.71 to hit $21.19 a barrel, while the June Brent oil contract fell 0.23% or 0.06 to trade at $25.55 a barrel.
EUR/USD was down 0.03% to 1.0959, while USD/JPY fell 0.08% to 107.06.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.47% at 99.555.