U.S. shares lower at close of trade; Dow Jones Industrial Average down 0.07%

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

At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.07%, while the S&P 500 index fell 0.08%, and the NASDAQ Composite index declined 0.59%.

The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Merck & Company Inc (NYSE: MRK ), which rose 3.53% or 2.90 points to trade at 85.10 at the close. Pfizer Inc (NYSE: PFE ) added 2.49% or 0.93 points to end at 38.21 and Boeing Co (NYSE: BA ) was up 2.36% or 8.05 points to 348.93 in late trade.

Biggest losers included Apple Inc (NASDAQ: AAPL ), which lost 2.31% or 5.76 points to trade at 243.29 in late trade. Walmart Inc (NYSE: WMT ) declined 1.74% or 2.07 points to end at 117.15 and Nike Inc (NYSE: NKE ) shed 1.73% or 1.57 points to 89.28.

The top performers on the S&P 500 were National Oilwell Varco Inc (NYSE: NOV ) which rose 13.69% to 23.83, Xerox Corp (NYSE: XRX ) which was up 11.79% to settle at 34.42 and Leggett & Platt Incorporated (NYSE: LEG ) which gained 11.72% to close at 51.57.

The worst performers were IPG Photonics Corporation (NASDAQ: IPGP ) which was down 13.41% to 124.45 in late trade, Smith AO Corporation (NYSE: AOS ) which lost 4.13% to settle at 49.23 and TechnipFMC PLC (NYSE: FTI ) which was down 3.15% to 20.27 at the close.

The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Wins Finance Holdings Inc (NASDAQ: WINS ) which rose 39.52% to 14.05, Amkor Technology Inc (NASDAQ: AMKR ) which was up 34.66% to settle at 14.92 and Synthesis Energy Systems Inc (NASDAQ: SES ) which gained 33.33% to close at 7.5600.

The worst performers were Destination Maternity Corporation (NASDAQ: DEST ) which was down 31.19% to 0.11 in late trade, Safe-T Group Ltd ADR (NASDAQ: SFET ) which lost 25.07% to settle at 7.8000 and Diffusion Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ: DFFN ) which was down 24.31% to 0.8251 at the close.

Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 1508 to 1312 and 115 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1336 fell and 1297 advanced, while 99 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.

The CBOE Volatility Index , which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was up 0.69% to 13.20.

In commodities trading, Gold Futures for December delivery was down 0.40% or 5.95 to $1489.85 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in December fell 0.56% or 0.31 to hit $55.50 a barrel, while the December Brent oil contract fell 0.03% or 0.02 to trade at $61.17 a barrel.

EUR/USD was up 0.01% to 1.1112, while USD/JPY unchanged 0.00% to 108.87.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.06% at 97.465.