Investing.com – U.S. equities were lower at the close on Wednesday, as losses in the Consumer Services, Healthcare and Consumer Goods sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in New York, the Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 0.41%, while the S&P 500 index declined 0.37%, and the NASDAQ Composite index declined 0.63%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Caterpillar Inc (NYSE:CAT), which rose 1.51% or 1.30 points to trade at 87.50 at the close. JPMorgan Chase & Co (NYSE:JPM) added 1.34% or 0.84 points to end at 63.60 and Visa Inc (NYSE:V) was up 0.85% or 0.57 points to 67.34 in late trade.
Biggest losers included UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH), which lost 3.38% or 3.98 points to trade at 113.61 in late trade. Home Depot Inc (NYSE:HD) declined 1.69% or 1.87 points to end at 108.71 and Wal-Mart Stores Inc (NYSE:WMT) shed 1.54% or 1.22 points to 77.88.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Genworth Financial Inc (NYSE:GNW) which rose 11.64% to 8.92, Salesforce.com Inc (NYSE:CRM) which was up 11.60% to settle at 74.65 and Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide (NYSE:HOT) which gained 8.33% to close at 87.53.
The worst performers were Wynn Resorts Limited (NASDAQ:WYNN) which was down 16.64% to 108.77 in late trade, Humana Inc (NYSE:HUM) which lost 7.21% to settle at 168.05 and Iron Mountain Incorporated (NYSE:IRM) which was down 5.04% to 35.40 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were China Yida Holding Co (NASDAQ:CNYD) which rose 61.87% to 4.500, Biopath Hol (NASDAQ:BPTH) which was up 29.41% to settle at 1.76 and Amedica Cor (NASDAQ:AMDA) which gained 22.68% to close at 0.270.
The worst performers were Xg Technolo (NASDAQ:XGTI) which was down 22.63% to 0.256 in late trade, Stratasys Ltd (NASDAQ:SSYS) which lost 22.16% to settle at 39.93 and Smith Micro Software Inc (NASDAQ:SMSI) which was down 16.88% to 1.280 at the close.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 2134 to 1001; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1878 fell and 891 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 7.82% to 13.38.
In commodities trading, Gold for June delivery was down 0.81% or 9.80 to $1204.10 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in June rose 2.62% or 1.50 to hit $58.55 a barrel, while the June Brent oil contract rose 1.49% or 0.96 to trade at $65.61 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 1.23% to 1.1117, while USD/JPY rose 0.16% to 119.06.
The US Dollar Index was down 0.92% at 95.31.