U.S. shares lower at close of trade; Dow Jones Industrial Average down 0.58%

Investing.com – U.S. equities were lower at the close on Tuesday, as losses in the Utilities , Telecoms and Financials sectors propelled shares lower.

At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.58% to hit a new 1-month low, while the S&P 500 index fell 0.68%, and the NASDAQ Composite index lost 0.69%.

The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Chevron Corporation (NYSE: CVX ), which rose 1.60% or 1.68 points to trade at 106.43 at the close. Merck & Company Inc (NYSE: MRK ) added 0.99% or 0.58 points to end at 59.30 and Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE: XOM ) was up 0.40% or 0.33 points to 83.65 in late trade.

Biggest losers included Pfizer Inc (NYSE: PFE ), which lost 2.05% or 0.65 points to trade at 31.06 in late trade. Apple Inc (NASDAQ: AAPL ) declined 1.82% or 2.07 points to end at 111.47 and The Travelers Companies Inc (NYSE: TRV ) shed 1.77% or 1.92 points to 106.26.

The top performers on the S&P 500 were Alcoa Inc (NYSE: AA ) which rose 7.33% to 22.98, Archer-Daniels-Midland Company (NYSE: ADM ) which was up 7.23% to settle at 46.72 and Martin Marietta Materials Inc (NYSE: MLM ) which gained 4.12% to close at 193.01.

The worst performers were Pitney Bowes Inc (NYSE: PBI ) which was down 18.50% to 14.54 in late trade, L Brands Inc (NYSE: LB ) which lost 7.94% to settle at 66.46 and Southwestern Energy Company (NYSE: SWN ) which was down 6.64% to 9.70 at the close.

The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Skyline Medical Inc (NASDAQ: SKLN ) which rose 66.24% to 2.6100, Signal Genetics (NASDAQ: SGNL ) which was up 41.43% to settle at 0.4950 and Oculus Innovative Sciences Inc (NASDAQ: OCLS ) which gained 26.00% to close at 5.040.

The worst performers were Neovasc Inc (NASDAQ: NVCN ) which was down 37.86% to 0.640 in late trade, Rewalk Robotics Ltd (NASDAQ: RWLK ) which lost 19.23% to settle at 2.62 and Lombard Medical Inc (NASDAQ: EVAR ) which was down 16.47% to 0.7100 at the close.

Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 2379 to 775 and 76 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1691 fell and 759 advanced, while 140 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.

The CBOE Volatility Index , which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was up 7.50% to 18.34 a new 3-month high.

In commodities trading, Gold for December delivery was up 1.28% or 16.35 to $1289.45 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in December fell 0.11% or 0.05 to hit $46.81 a barrel, while the January Brent oil contract fell 0.56% or 0.27 to trade at $48.34 a barrel.

EUR/USD was up 0.68% to 1.1055, while USD/JPY fell 0.71% to 104.09.

The US Dollar Index was down 0.57% at 97.76.