U.S. shares lower at close of trade; Dow Jones Industrial Average down 0.39%

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

At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.39%, while the S&P 500 index fell 1.31%, and the NASDAQ Composite index lost 2.70%.

The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Boeing Co (NYSE: BA ), which rose 2.43% or 5.42 points to trade at 228.56 at the close. American Express Company (NYSE: AXP ) added 2.40% or 3.34 points to end at 142.59 and JPMorgan Chase & Co (NYSE: JPM ) was up 1.93% or 2.90 points to 152.91 in late trade.

Biggest losers included Salesforce.com Inc (NYSE: CRM ), which lost 3.50% or 7.47 points to trade at 206.00 in late trade. Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT ) declined 2.70% or 6.31 points to end at 227.56 and Apple Inc (NASDAQ: AAPL ) shed 2.45% or 3.06 points to 122.06.

The top performers on the S&P 500 were Lumen Technologies Inc (NYSE: LUMN ) which rose 7.32% to 13.79, Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd (NYSE: NCLH ) which was up 6.25% to settle at 33.13 and HollyFrontier Corporation (NYSE: HFC ) which gained 5.54% to close at 39.03.

The worst performers were MarketAxess Holdings Inc (NASDAQ: MKTX ) which was down 12.01% to 509.35 in late trade, Align Technology Inc (NASDAQ: ALGN ) which lost 6.35% to settle at 527.43 and IDEXX Laboratories Inc (NASDAQ: IDXX ) which was down 5.94% to 498.02 at the close.

The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were KemPharm Inc (NASDAQ: KMPH ) which rose 42.84% to 13.4700, 1895 of Wisconsin Inc Bancorp (NASDAQ: BCOW ) which was up 36.76% to settle at 13.95 and Ovid Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ: OVID ) which gained 36.49% to close at 4.04.

The worst performers were Vir Biotechnology Inc (NASDAQ: VIR ) which was down 27.64% to 41.78 in late trade, MICT Inc (NASDAQ: MICT ) which lost 21.96% to settle at 2.310 and Intrusion Inc (NASDAQ: INTZ ) which was down 21.05% to 18.57 at the close.

Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 1717 to 1512 and 67 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 2152 fell and 1175 advanced, while 57 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.

The CBOE Volatility Index , which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was up 10.66% to 26.67.

In commodities trading, Gold Futures for April delivery was down 1.40% or 24.30 to $1709.30 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in April rose 2.18% or 1.30 to hit $61.05 a barrel, while the May Brent oil contract rose 0.03% or 0.02 to trade at $63.95 a barrel.

EUR/USD was up 0.02% to 1.2064, while USD/JPY unchanged 0.00% to 106.99.

The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.24% at 91.007.