U.S. shares lower at close of trade; Dow Jones Industrial Average down 0.67%

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

At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.67%, while the S&P 500 index fell 0.45%, and the NASDAQ Composite index declined 0.15%.

The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Nike Inc (NYSE: NKE ), which rose 1.30% or 1.35 points to trade at 105.11 at the close. Home Depot Inc (NYSE: HD ) added 0.72% or 2.06 points to end at 287.18 and Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE: PG ) was up 0.66% or 0.95 points to 145.70 in late trade.

Biggest losers included UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE: UNH ), which lost 2.56% or 13.18 points to trade at 501.24 in late trade. Boeing Co (NYSE: BA ) declined 2.17% or 3.20 points to end at 143.95 and Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc (NASDAQ: WBA ) shed 1.92% or 0.73 points to 37.24.

The top performers on the S&P 500 were Twitter Inc (NYSE: TWTR ) which rose 7.85% to 36.73, The Mosaic Company (NYSE: MOS ) which was up 3.21% to settle at 46.31 and Coterra Energy Inc (NYSE: CTRA ) which gained 3.04% to close at 27.14.

The worst performers were Fastenal Company (NASDAQ: FAST ) which was down 6.44% to 46.77 in late trade, Old Dominion Freight Line Inc (NASDAQ: ODFL ) which lost 5.13% to settle at 249.32 and Delta Air Lines Inc (NYSE: DAL ) which was down 4.47% to 29.70 at the close.

The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Qurate Retail Inc Series B (NASDAQ: QRTEB ) which rose 71.24% to 5.20, XORTX Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ: XRTX ) which was up 48.36% to settle at 1.81 and Liberty Tripadvisor Holdings Inc (NASDAQ: LTRPB ) which gained 46.81% to close at 13.80.

The worst performers were Humanigen Inc (NASDAQ: HGEN ) which was down 79.56% to 0.61 in late trade, Atara Biotherapeutics Inc (NASDAQ: ATRA ) which lost 55.08% to settle at 3.89 and Applied Genetic (NASDAQ: AGTC ) which was down 53.99% to 0.39 at the close.

Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 1754 to 1348 and 174 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1898 fell and 1834 advanced, while 244 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.

The CBOE Volatility Index , which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 1.72% to 26.82.

In commodities trading, Gold Futures for August delivery was up 0.48% or 8.35 to $1,733.15 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in August rose 0.26% or 0.25 to hit $96.09 a barrel, while the September Brent oil contract fell 0.03% or 0.03 to trade at $99.46 a barrel.

EUR/USD was unchanged 0.19% to 1.01, while USD/JPY rose 0.37% to 137.37.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.06% at 107.85.