U.S. shares lower at close of trade; Dow Jones Industrial Average down 1.94%

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

At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 1.94%, while the S&P 500 index lost 2.59%, and the NASDAQ Composite index declined 2.73%.

The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were 3M Company (NYSE: MMM ), which rose 6.11% or 10.75 points to trade at 186.70 at the close. Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc (NASDAQ: WBA ) added 4.41% or 2.17 points to end at 51.36 and International Business Machines (NYSE: IBM ) was up 1.06% or 1.30 points to 123.79 in late trade.

Biggest losers included Boeing Co (NYSE: BA ), which lost 4.48% or 9.05 points to trade at 193.01 in late trade. Walt Disney Company (NYSE: DIS ) declined 3.79% or 6.43 points to end at 163.13 and Merck & Company Inc (NYSE: MRK ) shed 3.76% or 3.02 points to 77.23.

The top performers on the S&P 500 were Macerich Company (NYSE: MAC ) which rose 12.80% to 21.95, Seagate Technology PLC (NASDAQ: STX ) which was up 11.83% to settle at 72.53 and Macy’s Inc (NYSE: M ) which gained 10.92% to close at 17.57.

The worst performers were L Brands Inc (NYSE: LB ) which was down 14.53% to 36.75 in late trade, Gap Inc (NYSE: GPS ) which lost 10.49% to settle at 19.53 and Microchip Technology Inc (NASDAQ: MCHP ) which was down 8.25% to 133.02 at the close.

The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Koss Corporation (NASDAQ: KOSS ) which rose 426.80% to 52.680, Naked Brand Group Ltd (NASDAQ: NAKD ) which was up 203.80% to settle at 1.190 and Fossil Group Inc (NASDAQ: FOSL ) which gained 84.82% to close at 23.38.

The worst performers were Globus Maritime Ltd (NASDAQ: GLBS ) which was down 22.01% to 5.4200 in late trade, Aikido Pharma Inc (NASDAQ: AIKI ) which lost 21.23% to settle at 1.410 and ENDRA Life Sciences Inc (NASDAQ: NDRA ) which was down 21.40% to 2.240 at the close.

Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 2576 to 566 and 51 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 2618 fell and 506 advanced, while 23 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.

The CBOE Volatility Index , which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was up 36.97% to 31.53 a new 1-month high.

In commodities trading, Gold Futures for February delivery was down 0.62% or 11.40 to $1839.50 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in March unchanged 0.00% or 0.00 to hit $52.61 a barrel, while the April Brent oil contract fell 0.61% or 0.34 to trade at $55.30 a barrel.

EUR/USD was down 0.52% to 1.2096, while USD/JPY rose 0.57% to 104.19.

The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.56% at 90.657.