Investing.com – U.S. equities were lower at the close on Wednesday, as losses in the Oil & Gas, Financials and Basic Materials sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 6.30% to hit a new 3-year low, while the S&P 500 index declined 5.18%, and the NASDAQ Composite index declined 4.70%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc (NASDAQ:WBA), which rose 6.47% or 3.21 points to trade at 52.81 at the close. Cisco Systems Inc (NASDAQ:CSCO) added 4.56% or 1.62 points to end at 37.12 and Walmart Inc (NYSE:WMT) was up 2.78% or 3.32 points to 122.58 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Chevron Corp (NYSE:CVX), which lost 22.12% or 15.64 points to trade at 55.05 in late trade. Boeing Co (NYSE:BA) declined 17.92% or 22.25 points to end at 101.89 and The Travelers Companies Inc (NYSE:TRV) shed 15.27% or 14.72 points to 81.69.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Akamai Technologies Inc (NASDAQ:AKAM) which rose 9.80% to 97.10, Huntington Ingalls Industries Inc (NYSE:HII) which was up 6.99% to settle at 172.36 and Gilead Sciences Inc (NASDAQ:GILD) which gained 6.58% to close at 79.42.
The worst performers were Coty Inc (NYSE:COTY) which was down 31.38% to 3.74 in late trade, Aptiv PLC (NYSE:APTV) which lost 30.55% to settle at 33.55 and United Airlines Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:UAL) which was down 30.29% to 21.38 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Biomerica Inc (NASDAQ:BMRA) which rose 334.60% to 10.300, Entasis Therapeutics Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:ETTX) which was up 175.25% to settle at 5.56 and Waitr Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:WTRH) which gained 159.21% to close at 1.9700.
The worst performers were The Chefs Warehouse Inc (NASDAQ:CHEF) which was down 53.06% to 3.60 in late trade, Matlin & Partners Acquisition Corp (NASDAQ:USWS) which lost 51.15% to settle at 0.273 and Penn Virginia Corporation (NASDAQ:PVAC) which was down 48.64% to 1.13 at the close.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 2748 to 198 and 8 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 2438 fell and 296 advanced, while 21 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was up 0.71% to 76.45.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for April delivery was down 2.52% or 38.50 to $1487.30 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in May fell 16.43% or 4.49 to hit $22.84 a barrel, while the May Brent oil contract fell 0.11% or 0.03 to trade at $26.45 a barrel.
EUR/USD was down 0.02% to 1.0911, while USD/JPY fell 0.11% to 107.94.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 1.45% at 101.250.