U.S. shares lower at close of trade; Dow Jones Industrial Average down 0.96%

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

At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 0.96%, while the S&P 500 index lost 0.92%, and the NASDAQ Composite index fell 1.59%.

The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Verizon Communications Inc (NYSE:VZ), which rose 3.30% or 1.37 points to trade at 42.87 at the close. Walmart Inc (NYSE:WMT) added 1.52% or 1.25 points to end at 83.27 and Johnson&Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) was up 1.47% or 2.41 points to 165.86 in late trade.

Biggest losers included McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE:MCD), which lost 5.12% or 16.12 points to trade at 298.57 in late trade. 3M Company (NYSE:MMM) declined 2.90% or 3.83 points to end at 127.91 and Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN) shed 2.61% or 4.95 points to 184.75.

The top performers on the S&P 500 were Northern Trust Corporation (NASDAQ:NTRS) which rose 7.02% to 102.51, Teledyne Technologies Incorporated (NYSE:TDY) which was up 6.00% to settle at 470.09 and Packaging Corp of America (NYSE:PKG) which gained 5.53% to close at 228.65.

The worst performers were Enphase Energy Inc (NASDAQ:ENPH) which was down 14.92% to 78.47 in late trade, Seagate Technology PLC (NASDAQ:STX) which lost 8.10% to settle at 103.52 and Old Dominion Freight Line Inc (NASDAQ:ODFL) which was down 5.45% to 188.67 at the close.

The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were LA Rosa Holdings Corp (NASDAQ:LRHC) which rose 130.61% to 1.13, Kwesst Micro Systems Inc (NASDAQ:KWE) which was up 113.14% to settle at 2.53 and Tevogen Bio Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:TVGN) which gained 54.04% to close at 2.48.

The worst performers were Premium Catering Holdings Ltd (NASDAQ:PC) which was down 66.01% to 1.39 in late trade, Silexion Therapeutics Corp (NASDAQ:SLXN) which lost 32.00% to settle at 0.31 and Digital Brands Group Inc (NASDAQ:DBGI) which was down 30.54% to 0.25 at the close.

Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 2038 to 776 and 77 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 2296 fell and 1012 advanced, while 137 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.

The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was up 5.71% to 19.24.

In commodities trading, Gold Futures for December delivery was down 1.09% or 29.95 to $2,729.85 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in December fell 0.99% or 0.71 to hit $71.03 a barrel, while the December Brent oil contract fell 1.05% or 0.80 to trade at $75.24 a barrel.

EUR/USD was unchanged 0.11% to 1.08, while USD/JPY rose 1.09% to 152.70.

The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.32% at 104.24.