Investing.com – U.S. stocks were lower after the close on Wednesday, as losses in the Oil & Gas, Utilities and Basic Materials sectors led shares lower.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.60%, while the S&P 500 index declined 0.81%, and the NASDAQ Composite index fell 0.50%.
The best performers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE:GS), which rose 0.58% or 1.38 points to trade at 239.93 at the close. Meanwhile, American Express Company (NYSE:AXP) added 0.31% or 0.23 points to end at 74.07 and Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS) was up 0.19% or 0.20 points to 104.05 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Caterpillar Inc (NYSE:CAT), which fell 2.37% or 2.28 points to trade at 93.74 at the close. Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE:XOM) declined 2.16% or 2.00 points to end at 90.58 and Boeing Company (NYSE:BA) was down 1.40% or 2.19 points to 154.47.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) which rose 5.79% to 96.45, Twenty-First Century Fox A Inc (NASDAQ:FOXA) which was up 3.62% to settle at 28.02 and Alexion Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:ALXN) which gained 3.19% to close at 113.52.
The worst performers were Universal Health Services Inc (NYSE:UHS) which was down 6.83% to 101.55 in late trade, Newmont Mining Corporation (NYSE:NEM) which lost 6.47% to settle at 31.68 and Transocean Ltd (NYSE:RIG) which was down 5.02% to 14.58 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Vericel Corp Ord (NASDAQ:VCEL) which rose 57.69% to 4.100, ESSA Pharma Inc (NASDAQ:EPIX) which was up 21.63% to settle at 2.530 and Brainstorm Cell Therapuetics Inc (NASDAQ:BCLI) which gained 21.86% to close at 2.6200.
The worst performers were First NBC Bank Holding Company (NASDAQ:FNBC) which was down 25.00% to 7.20 in late trade, Merus Labs International Inc (NASDAQ:MSLI) which lost 20.32% to settle at 0.829 and Delta Technology Holding Ltd (NASDAQ:DELT) which was down 18.69% to 0.8700 at the close.
Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the New York Stock Exchange by 2577 to 666 and 28 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1843 fell and 694 advanced, while 86 ended unchanged.
Shares in NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) rose to all time highs; rising 5.79% or 5.28 to 96.45. Shares in Universal Health Services Inc (NYSE:UHS) fell to 52-week lows; falling 6.83% or 7.44 to 101.55.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was up 4.01% to 13.23.
Gold for February delivery was down 1.25% or 14.50 to $1144.50 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in January fell 3.94% or 2.09 to hit $50.89 a barrel, while the February Brent oil contract fell 3.45% or 1.92 to trade at $53.80 a barrel.
EUR/USD was down 0.88% to 1.0530, while USD/JPY rose 1.64% to 117.08.
The US Dollar Index was up 0.98% at 102.07.