U.S. shares lower at close of trade; Dow Jones Industrial Average down 0.87%

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

At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.87% to hit a new 3-month low, while the S&P 500 index fell 0.69%, and the NASDAQ Composite index lost 0.79%.

The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Intel Corporation (NASDAQ: INTC ), which rose 1.51% or 0.66 points to trade at 44.23 at the close. Dow Inc (NYSE: DOW ) added 0.31% or 0.15 points to end at 48.71 and UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE: UNH ) was up 0.14% or 0.34 points to 242.40 in late trade.

Biggest losers included Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ ), which lost 4.19% or 5.74 points to trade at 131.33 in late trade. Nike Inc (NYSE: NKE ) declined 2.87% or 2.33 points to end at 78.87 and Boeing Co (NYSE: BA ) shed 1.71% or 6.08 points to 348.80.

The top performers on the S&P 500 were Chesapeake Energy Corporation (NYSE: CHK ) which rose 10.31% to 2.140, Range Resources Corp (NYSE: RRC ) which was up 4.21% to settle at 8.16 and Helmerich and Payne Inc (NYSE: HP ) which gained 3.57% to close at 51.00.

The worst performers were Capri Holdings Ltd (NYSE: CPRI ) which was down 9.85% to 35.06 in late trade, L Brands Inc (NYSE: LB ) which lost 7.06% to settle at 22.64 and PVH Corp (NYSE: PVH ) which was down 6.28% to 99.25 at the close.

The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Eltek Ltd (NASDAQ: ELTK ) which rose 326.83% to 7.000, Obalon Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ: OBLN ) which was up 58.26% to settle at 1.13 and Soliton Inc (NASDAQ: SOLY ) which gained 42.62% to close at 20.2800.

The worst performers were TuanChe  (NASDAQ: TC ) which was down 20.00% to 4.24 in late trade, Bridgeline Digital Inc (NASDAQ: BLIN ) which lost 18.05% to settle at 3.2700 and Hudson Technologies Inc (NASDAQ: HDSN ) which was down 16.42% to 1.680 at the close.

Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 2031 to 962 and 94 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1809 fell and 842 advanced, while 87 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.

The CBOE Volatility Index , which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was up 2.29% to 17.90.

In commodities trading, Gold Futures for June delivery was up 0.15% or 1.95 to $1279.05 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in July fell 0.14% or 0.08 to hit $59.06 a barrel, while the August Brent oil contract unchanged 0.00% or 0.00 to trade at $68.11 a barrel.

EUR/USD was up 0.05% to 1.1135, while USD/JPY fell 0.02% to 109.56.

The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.23% at 98.065.