Investing.com – U.S. equities were lower at the close on Wednesday, as losses in the Telecommunications, Consumer Goods and Industrials sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in New York, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.58%, while the S&P 500 index declined 0.44%, and the NASDAQ Composite index fell 0.26%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH), which rose 0.85% or 0.96 points to trade at 113.82 at the close. McDonald's Corporation (NYSE:MCD) added 0.51% or 0.51 points to end at 100.25 and JPMorgan Chase & Co (NYSE:JPM) was up 0.26% or 0.16 points to 62.13 in late trade.
Biggest losers included American Express Company (NYSE:AXP), which lost 1.56% or 1.28 points to trade at 80.63 in late trade. Caterpillar Inc (NYSE:CAT) declined 1.34% or 1.11 points to end at 81.73 and AT&T Inc (NYSE:T) shed 1.19% or 0.41 points to 34.00.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Tenet Healthcare Corporation (NYSE:THC) which rose 6.23% to 49.99, Bristol-Myers Squibb Company (NYSE:BMY) which was up 6.06% to settle at 65.67 and HCA Holdings Inc (NYSE:HCA) which gained 5.85% to close at 74.93.
The worst performers were CONSOL Energy Inc (NYSE:CNX) which was down 4.69% to 30.29 in late trade, Chesapeake Energy Corporation (NYSE:CHK) which lost 4.38% to settle at 15.49 and CarMax Inc (NYSE:KMX) which was down 4.01% to 64.69 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were InfoSonics Corp (NASDAQ:IFON) which rose 59.41% to 2.710, AVEO Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:AVEO) which was up 33.91% to settle at 1.54 and Novogen Limited (NASDAQ:NVGN) which gained 33.62% to close at 3.360.
The worst performers were Nanosphere Inc (NASDAQ:NSPH) which was down 30.46% to 0.250 in late trade, Bazaarvoice Inc (NASDAQ:BV) which lost 29.41% to settle at 6.410 and Cyclacel Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:CYCC) which was down 22.54% to 1.100 at the close.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 1980 to 839; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1627 fell and 1154 advanced, while 4 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was up 2.74% to 14.24.
In commodities trading, Gold for April delivery was down 0.48% or 5.80 to $1198.60 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude Oil for delivery in April rose 2.40% or 1.22 to hit $51.73 a barrel, while the April Brent Oil contract fell 1.15% or 0.70 to trade at $60.32 a barrel.
EUR/USD was down 0.89% to 1.1076, while USD/JPY fell 0.03% to 119.70.
The US Dollar Index was up 0.56% at 95.98.