U.S. shares lower at close of trade; Dow Jones Industrial Average down 1.01%

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

At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 1.01%, while the S&P 500 index declined 0.58%, and the NASDAQ Composite index lost 0.07%.

The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Intel Corporation (NASDAQ: INTC ), which rose 1.67% or 0.76 points to trade at 46.32 at the close. Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT ) added 0.78% or 0.72 points to end at 92.72 and American Express Company (NYSE: AXP ) was up 0.41% or 0.40 points to 97.19 in late trade.

Biggest losers included Wal-Mart Stores Inc (NYSE: WMT ), which lost 10.18% or 10.67 points to trade at 94.11 in late trade. Verizon Communications Inc (NYSE: VZ ) declined 2.45% or 1.23 points to end at 48.92 and Merck & Company Inc (NYSE: MRK ) shed 2.33% or 1.31 points to 54.98.

The top performers on the S&P 500 were Noble Energy Inc (NYSE: NBL ) which rose 10.81% to 29.12, Mosaic Company (NYSE: MOS ) which was up 5.23% to settle at 26.76 and Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc (NYSE: CMG ) which gained 3.91% to close at 317.57.

The worst performers were Wal-Mart Stores Inc (NYSE: WMT ) which was down 10.18% to 94.11 in late trade, Genuine Parts Company (NYSE: GPC ) which lost 5.17% to settle at 94.67 and Gap Inc (NYSE: GPS ) which was down 4.99% to 31.61 at the close.

The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Fogo De Chao Inc (NASDAQ: FOGO ) which rose 23.90% to 15.55, Voyager Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ: VYGR ) which was up 22.21% to settle at 23.66 and Orexigen Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ: OREX ) which gained 18.07% to close at 0.980.

The worst performers were MiMedx Group Inc (NASDAQ: MDXG ) which was down 39.56% to 8.74 in late trade, Ubiquiti Networks Inc (NASDAQ: UBNT ) which lost 25.34% to settle at 55.28 and Adamas Pharma (NASDAQ: ADMS ) which was down 21.85% to 26.39 at the close.

Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 2106 to 988 and 114 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1679 fell and 864 advanced, while 114 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.

The CBOE Volatility Index , which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was up 5.70% to 20.57.

In commodities trading, Gold Futures for April delivery was down 1.76% or 23.90 to $1332.30 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in April rose 0.18% or 0.11 to hit $61.66 a barrel, while the April Brent oil contract fell 0.78% or 0.51 to trade at $65.16 a barrel.

EUR/USD was down 0.57% to 1.2336, while USD/JPY rose 0.65% to 107.28.

The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.63% at 89.64.