Investing.com – U.S. equities were lower at the close on Wednesday, as losses in the Utilities, Basic Materials and Oil & Gas sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.25%, while the S&P 500 index declined 0.56%, and the NASDAQ Composite index declined 0.59%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Boeing Co (NYSE:BA), which rose 1.27% or 2.54 points to trade at 203.06 at the close. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) added 1.12% or 5.79 points to end at 524.94 and Salesforce Inc (NYSE:CRM) was up 0.84% or 2.25 points to 271.44 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc (NASDAQ:WBA), which lost 3.06% or 0.70 points to trade at 22.17 in late trade. Caterpillar Inc (NYSE:CAT) declined 2.99% or 8.60 points to end at 278.63 and Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS) shed 2.91% or 2.71 points to 90.34.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Johnson Controls International PLC (NYSE:JCI) which rose 3.49% to 54.23, PayPal Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:PYPL) which was up 2.48% to settle at 59.90 and CME Group Inc (NASDAQ:CME) which gained 2.20% to close at 202.97.
The worst performers were Albemarle Corp (NYSE:ALB) which was down 4.17% to 120.70 in late trade, Boston Properties Inc (NYSE:BXP) which lost 3.68% to settle at 66.92 and Wynn Resorts Limited (NASDAQ:WYNN) which was down 3.60% to 91.16 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Mountain Crest Acquisition Corp IV (NASDAQ:MCAF) which rose 77.50% to 22.01, Fitell Corp (NASDAQ:FTEL) which was up 34.34% to settle at 1.33 and WANG & LEE GROUP Inc (NASDAQ:WLGS) which gained 32.65% to close at 0.78.
The worst performers were Roma Green Finance Ltd (NASDAQ:ROMA) which was down 70.84% to 1.14 in late trade, Phunware Inc (NASDAQ:PHUN) which lost 61.29% to settle at 0.16 and DatChat Inc (NASDAQ:DATS) which was down 49.37% to 1.61 at the close.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 2148 to 722 and 73 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 2197 fell and 1228 advanced, while 116 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was up 6.86% to 14.79 a new 1-month high.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for February delivery was down 1.06% or 21.50 to $2,008.70 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in March rose 0.19% or 0.14 to hit $72.66 a barrel, while the March Brent oil contract fell 0.37% or 0.29 to trade at $78.00 a barrel.
EUR/USD was unchanged 0.07% to 1.09, while USD/JPY rose 0.69% to 148.20.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.04% at 103.15.