U.S. shares lower at close of trade; Dow Jones Industrial Average down 0.42%

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

At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.42%, while the S&P 500 index fell 0.97%, and the NASDAQ Composite index declined 2.22%.

The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE: UNH ), which rose 2.70% or 13.99 points to trade at 531.75 at the close. Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ ) added 2.60% or 4.62 points to end at 182.23 and Walmart Inc (NYSE: WMT ) was up 2.32% or 3.52 points to 154.99 in late trade.

Biggest losers included Salesforce.com Inc (NYSE: CRM ), which lost 4.44% or 9.32 points to trade at 200.82 in late trade. Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT ) declined 3.66% or 11.38 points to end at 299.50 and Visa Inc Class A (NYSE: V ) shed 3.13% or 7.08 points to 219.01.

The top performers on the S&P 500 were Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE: LLY ) which rose 4.56% to 305.84, NRG Energy Inc (NYSE: NRG ) which was up 4.23% to settle at 39.21 and Dollar General Corporation (NYSE: DG ) which gained 4.20% to close at 239.00.

The worst performers were Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd (NYSE: NCLH ) which was down 6.80% to 20.68 in late trade, Penn National Gaming Inc (NASDAQ: PENN ) which lost 6.72% to settle at 39.02 and Caesars Entertainment Corporation (NASDAQ: CZR ) which was down 6.67% to 72.01 at the close.

The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Advent Technologies Holdings Inc (NASDAQ: ADN ) which rose 79.70% to 3.63, Moxian Inc (NASDAQ: MOXC ) which was up 39.76% to settle at 2.32 and Mobiquity Technologies Inc (NASDAQ: MOBQ ) which gained 29.63% to close at 2.10.

The worst performers were Guardforce AI Co Ltd (NASDAQ: GFAI ) which was down 32.54% to 1.14 in late trade, GWG Holdings Inc (NASDAQ: GWGH ) which lost 25.14% to settle at 2.62 and Integrated Media Technology Ltd (NASDAQ: IMTE ) which was down 21.44% to 20.52 at the close.

Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 2287 to 920 and 134 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 2788 fell and 1111 advanced, while 217 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.

The CBOE Volatility Index , which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was up 5.09% to 22.10.

In commodities trading, Gold Futures for June delivery was down 0.12% or 2.40 to $1,925.10 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in May fell 4.94% or 5.04 to hit $96.92 a barrel, while the June Brent oil contract fell 4.61% or 4.92 to trade at $101.72 a barrel.

EUR/USD was unchanged 0.04% to 1.09, while USD/JPY rose 0.14% to 123.78.

The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.22% at 99.65.