U.S. shares lower at close of trade; Dow Jones Industrial Average down 3.57%

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

At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 3.57% to hit a new 52-week low, while the S&P 500 index fell 4.04%, and the NASDAQ Composite index fell 4.73%.

The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Verizon Communications Inc (NYSE: VZ ), which fell 0.10% or 0.05 points to trade at 48.89 at the close. Amgen Inc (NASDAQ: AMGN ) fell 0.57% or 1.39 points to end at 243.96 and Merck & Company Inc (NYSE: MRK ) was down 0.97% or 0.90 points to 92.10 in late trade.

Biggest losers included Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc (NASDAQ: WBA ), which lost 8.39% or 3.77 points to trade at 41.17 in late trade. Coca-Cola Co (NYSE: KO ) declined 6.96% or 4.58 points to end at 61.20 and Walmart Inc (NYSE: WMT ) shed 6.79% or 8.92 points to 122.43.

The top performers on the S&P 500 were TJX Companies Inc (NYSE: TJX ) which rose 7.12% to 60.19, Assurant Inc (NYSE: AIZ ) which was up 1.31% to settle at 186.85 and NRG Energy Inc (NYSE: NRG ) which gained 1.24% to close at 45.76.

The worst performers were Target Corporation (NYSE: TGT ) which was down 24.93% to 161.61 in late trade, Dollar Tree Inc (NASDAQ: DLTR ) which lost 14.42% to settle at 133.80 and Old Dominion Freight Line Inc (NASDAQ: ODFL ) which was down 12.97% to 236.47 at the close.

The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Troika Media Group Inc (NASDAQ: TRKA ) which rose 48.21% to 0.58, Magenta Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ: MGTA ) which was up 32.20% to settle at 1.56 and Ricebran Tech (NASDAQ: RIBT ) which gained 22.08% to close at 0.72.

The worst performers were Endo International PLC (NASDAQ: ENDP ) which was down 46.54% to 0.62 in late trade, Baudax Bio Inc (NASDAQ: BXRX ) which lost 31.53% to settle at 0.81 and INVO Bioscience Inc (NASDAQ: INVO ) which was down 29.45% to 1.09 at the close.

Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 2730 to 459 and 100 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 3017 fell and 759 advanced, while 235 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.

The CBOE Volatility Index , which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was up 18.62% to 30.96.

In commodities trading, Gold Futures for June delivery was down 0.26% or 4.75 to $1,814.15 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in July fell 2.72% or 2.98 to hit $106.65 a barrel, while the July Brent oil contract fell 2.57% or 2.88 to trade at $109.05 a barrel.

EUR/USD was down 0.82% to 1.05, while USD/JPY fell 0.92% to 128.21.

The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.53% at 103.96.