U.S. shares lower at close of trade; Dow Jones Industrial Average down 3.15%

Investing.com – U.S. equities were lower at the close on Wednesday, as losses in the Technology , Industrials and Oil & Gas sectors propelled shares lower.

At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 3.15% to hit a new 1-month low, while the S&P 500 index lost 3.29%, and the NASDAQ Composite index lost 4.08%.

The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE: PG ), which fell 0.92% or 0.76 points to trade at 81.44 at the close. McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE: MCD ) fell 0.86% or 1.46 points to end at 168.37 and Home Depot Inc (NYSE: HD ) was down 1.05% or 2.05 points to 193.70 in late trade.

Biggest losers included Nike Inc (NYSE: NKE ), which lost 6.81% or 5.48 points to trade at 74.94 in late trade. Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT ) declined 5.43% or 6.10 points to end at 106.16 and Visa Inc (NYSE: V ) shed 4.77% or 6.79 points to 135.52.

The top performers on the S&P 500 were Patterson Companies Inc (NASDAQ: PDCO ) which rose 3.09% to 24.39, Keurig Dr Pepper Inc (NYSE: KDP ) which was up 2.44% to settle at 23.52 and Perrigo Co (NYSE: PRGO ) which gained 1.94% to close at 72.88.

The worst performers were Tiffany & Co (NYSE: TIF ) which was down 10.22% to 110.38 in late trade, Ralph Lauren Corp Class A (NYSE: RL ) which lost 8.44% to settle at 116.96 and Tapestry Inc (NYSE: TPR ) which was down 8.39% to 43.77 at the close.

The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were AcelRx Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ: ACRX ) which rose 35.66% to 3.595, Easterly Acquisition Corp (NASDAQ: EACQ ) which was up 30.67% to settle at 13.59 and Imperva Inc (NASDAQ: IMPV ) which gained 27.98% to close at 55.11.

The worst performers were One Horizon Group Inc (NASDAQ: OHGI ) which was down 35.90% to 0.2500 in late trade, Arbutus Biopharma Corp (NASDAQ: ABUS ) which lost 23.83% to settle at 4.570 and Intellipharmaceutics International Inc (NASDAQ: IPCI ) which was down 21.80% to 1.040 at the close.

Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 2738 to 362 and 61 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 2340 fell and 312 advanced, while 83 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.

The CBOE Volatility Index , which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was up 43.95% to 22.96 a new 6-month high.

In commodities trading, Gold Futures for December delivery was up 0.48% or 5.70 to $1197.20 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in November fell 2.84% or 2.13 to hit $72.83 a barrel, while the December Brent oil contract fell 2.67% or 2.27 to trade at $82.73 a barrel.

EUR/USD was up 0.29% to 1.1523, while USD/JPY fell 0.52% to 112.36.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.18% at 95.19.