Investing.com – U.S. equities were lower at the close on Wednesday, as losses in the Industrials, Financials and Oil & Gas sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 5.86% to hit a new 52-week low, while the S&P 500 index declined 4.89%, and the NASDAQ Composite index fell 4.70%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH), which fell 0.79% or 2.22 points to trade at 277.78 at the close. Chevron Corp (NYSE:CVX) fell 2.29% or 1.95 points to end at 83.03 and Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO) was down 2.70% or 1.45 points to 52.21 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Boeing Co (NYSE:BA), which lost 18.15% or 41.93 points to trade at 189.08 in late trade. Dow Inc (NYSE:DOW) declined 10.86% or 3.41 points to end at 27.99 and United Technologies Corporation (NYSE:UTX) shed 9.94% or 11.86 points to 107.51.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Linde PLC (DE:LINI) which rose 3.94% to 154.150, Digital Realty Trust Inc (NYSE:DLR) which was up 1.90% to settle at 137.00 and Gilead Sciences Inc (NASDAQ:GILD) which gained 1.88% to close at 73.70.
The worst performers were Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd (NYSE:NCLH) which was down 26.68% to 15.03 in late trade, Apache Corporation (NYSE:APA) which lost 23.54% to settle at 8.25 and Noble Energy Inc (NASDAQ:NBL) which was down 20.09% to 7.40 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were BIO-Key International Inc (NASDAQ:BKYI) which rose 140.77% to 1.1800, Tiziana Life Sciences PLC ADR (NASDAQ:TLSA) which was up 95.54% to settle at 3.950 and Co-Diagnostics Inc (NASDAQ:CODX) which gained 91.29% to close at 13.180.
The worst performers were Sophiris Bio Inc (NASDAQ:SPHS) which was down 60.30% to 0.2300 in late trade, Sonim Technologies Inc (NASDAQ:SONM) which lost 52.22% to settle at 0.92 and Clean Energy Fuels Corp (NASDAQ:CLNE) which was down 34.65% to 1.320 at the close.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 2757 to 152 and 22 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 2417 fell and 295 advanced, while 26 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was up 13.95% to 53.90.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for April delivery was up 0.36% or 5.90 to $1640.75 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in April rose 0.72% or 0.24 to hit $33.37 a barrel, while the May Brent oil contract fell 0.58% or 0.21 to trade at $35.84 a barrel.
EUR/USD was down 0.04% to 1.1262, while USD/JPY fell 0.11% to 104.42.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.17% at 96.550.