U.S. shares lower at close of trade; Dow Jones Industrial Average down 1.23%

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

At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 1.23%, while the S&P 500 index lost 1.09%, and the NASDAQ Composite index declined 1.19%.

The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Apple Inc (NASDAQ: AAPL ), which rose 2.04% or 4.26 points to trade at 213.30 at the close. JPMorgan Chase & Co (NYSE: JPM ) added 0.35% or 0.41 points to end at 115.96 and Pfizer Inc (NYSE: PFE ) was up 0.18% or 0.07 points to 38.86 in late trade.

Biggest losers included Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT ), which lost 2.91% or 4.08 points to trade at 136.46 in late trade. Verizon Communications Inc (NYSE: VZ ) declined 2.53% or 1.43 points to end at 55.20 and UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE: UNH ) shed 2.33% or 5.93 points to 249.00.

The top performers on the S&P 500 were Nordstrom Inc (NYSE: JWN ) which rose 7.85% to 33.10, Aptiv PLC (NYSE: APTV ) which was up 7.60% to settle at 87.77 and Edison International (NYSE: EIX ) which gained 6.12% to close at 74.57.

The worst performers were Advanced Micro Devices Inc (NASDAQ: AMD ) which was down 10.10% to 30.43 in late trade, Maxim Integrated Products Inc (NASDAQ: MXIM ) which lost 7.70% to settle at 59.19 and Micron Technology Inc (NASDAQ: MU ) which was down 5.42% to 44.89 at the close.

The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Benitec Biopharma Ltd ADR (NASDAQ: BNTC ) which rose 39.25% to 0.8500, Enphase Energy Inc (NASDAQ: ENPH ) which was up 30.02% to settle at 28.150 and Big 5 Sporting Goods Corporation (NASDAQ: BGFV ) which gained 29.09% to close at 2.13.

The worst performers were 2U Inc (NASDAQ: TWOU ) which was down 64.93% to 12.80 in late trade, T2 Biosystms Inc (NASDAQ: TTOO ) which lost 59.03% to settle at 0.59 and Sigma Labs Inc (NASDAQ: SGLB ) which was down 39.68% to 0.760 at the close.

Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 1922 to 1104 and 10 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1814 fell and 841 advanced, while 102 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.

The CBOE Volatility Index , which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was up 15.64% to 16.12 a new 1-month high.

In commodities trading, Gold Futures for August delivery was down 1.15% or 16.40 to $1413.30 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in September fell 0.34% or 0.20 to hit $57.85 a barrel, while the October Brent oil contract fell 0.05% or 0.03 to trade at $64.30 a barrel.

EUR/USD was up 0.02% to 1.1077, while USD/JPY rose 0.00% to 108.75.

The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.55% at 98.347.