Investing.com – U.S. equities were lower at the close on Wednesday, as losses in the Technology, Consumer Goods and Consumer Services sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1.07%, while the S&P 500 index fell 1.94%, and the NASDAQ Composite index lost 3.34%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Merck & Company Inc (NYSE:MRK), which rose 2.43% or 1.87 points to trade at 78.88 at the close. Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) added 1.37% or 0.73 points to end at 53.87 and Walmart Inc (NYSE:WMT) was up 1.35% or 1.92 points to 143.92 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Salesforce.com Inc (NYSE:CRM), which lost 8.28% or 20.56 points to trade at 227.67 in late trade. Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) declined 3.84% or 12.63 points to end at 316.38 and Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) shed 2.66% or 4.78 points to 174.92.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Nucor Corp (NYSE:NUE) which rose 4.83% to 122.72, Merck & Company Inc (NYSE:MRK) which was up 2.43% to settle at 78.88 and AT&T Inc (NYSE:T) which gained 2.22% to close at 26.21.
The worst performers were Enphase Energy Inc (NASDAQ:ENPH) which was down 11.82% to 157.20 in late trade, Salesforce.com Inc (NYSE:CRM) which lost 8.28% to settle at 227.67 and Paycom Soft (NYSE:PAYC) which was down 7.93% to 360.78 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Lixte Biotechnology Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:LIXT) which rose 63.70% to 2.210, Mainz Biomed BV (NASDAQ:MYNZ) which was up 46.39% to settle at 15.21 and BTCS Inc (NASDAQ:BTCS) which gained 43.89% to close at 4.3600.
The worst performers were Annexon Inc (NASDAQ:ANNX) which was down 34.06% to 7.26 in late trade, Applied Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:APLT) which lost 23.54% to settle at 4.45 and Monte Rosa Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:GLUE) which was down 22.62% to 15.63 at the close.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 2624 to 640 and 124 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 3033 fell and 823 advanced, while 171 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was up 16.68% to 19.73.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for February delivery was down 0.23% or 4.10 to $1810.50 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in February rose 0.30% or 0.23 to hit $77.22 a barrel, while the March Brent oil contract rose 0.11% or 0.09 to trade at $80.22 a barrel.
EUR/USD was unchanged 0.00% to 1.1313, while USD/JPY rose 0.00% to 116.11.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.10% at 96.175.