Investing.com – U.S. equities were lower at the close on Wednesday, as losses in the Financials, Basic Materials and Technology sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.42%, while the S&P 500 index declined 0.61%, and the NASDAQ Composite index fell 0.76%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Merck & Company Inc (NYSE:MRK), which rose 1.24% or 1.37 points to trade at 111.55 at the close. Boeing Co (NYSE:BA) added 0.60% or 1.12 points to end at 188.25 and Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) was up 0.39% or 0.60 points to 152.84 in late trade.
Biggest losers included American Express Company (NYSE:AXP), which lost 2.16% or 3.41 points to trade at 154.11 in late trade. Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE:GS) declined 2.25% or 8.31 points to end at 360.38 and Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) shed 1.64% or 0.47 points to 28.26.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Moderna Inc (NASDAQ:MRNA) which rose 5.78% to 208.95, Pfizer Inc (NYSE:PFE) which was up 2.66% to settle at 54.48 and Delta Air Lines Inc (NYSE:DAL) which gained 2.79% to close at 34.31.
The worst performers were Charter Communications Inc (NASDAQ:CHTR) which was down 16.38% to 328.34 in late trade, Caesars Entertainment Corporation (NASDAQ:CZR) which lost 5.44% to settle at 49.69 and Albemarle Corp (NYSE:ALB) which was down 5.36% to 247.86 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Icosavax Inc (NASDAQ:ICVX) which rose 112.38% to 8.92, Vallon Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:VLON) which was up 104.69% to settle at 0.51 and Core Scientific Inc (NASDAQ:CORZ) which gained 69.72% to close at 0.25.
The worst performers were Netcapital Inc (NASDAQ:NCPL) which was down 36.82% to 1.39 in late trade, Bit Brother Ltd (NASDAQ:BTB) which lost 35.74% to settle at 0.34 and Champions Oncology Inc (NASDAQ:CSBR) which was down 31.04% to 4.60 at the close.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 1816 to 1242 and 133 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 2211 fell and 1502 advanced, while 203 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 6.25% to 21.14.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for February delivery was down 0.35% or 6.35 to $1,819.15 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in January rose 2.68% or 2.02 to hit $77.41 a barrel, while the February Brent oil contract rose 2.71% or 2.19 to trade at $82.87 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.48% to 1.07, while USD/JPY fell 0.13% to 135.40.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.33% at 103.23.