U.S. stocks lower at close of trade; Dow Jones Industrial Average down 0.54%

Investing.com – U.S. stocks were lower after the close on Wednesday, as losses in the Healthcare, Financials and Consumer Goods sectors led shares lower.

At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.54%, while the S&P 500 index fell 0.75%, and the NASDAQ Composite index lost 0.72%.

The best performers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Salesforce.com Inc (NYSE:CRM), which rose 9.88% or 15.83 points to trade at 176.07 at the close. Meanwhile, Chevron Corp (NYSE:CVX) added 0.95% or 1.66 points to end at 176.32 and Caterpillar Inc (NYSE:CAT) was up 0.80% or 1.72 points to 217.57 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were Walmart Inc (NYSE:WMT), which fell 2.47% or 3.18 points to trade at 125.45 at the close. 3M Company (NYSE:MMM) declined 1.92% or 2.87 points to end at 146.42 and American Express Company (NYSE:AXP) was down 1.81% or 3.06 points to 165.76.

The top performers on the S&P 500 were Salesforce.com Inc (NYSE:CRM) which rose 9.88% to 176.07, HP Inc (NYSE:HPQ) which was up 3.86% to settle at 40.34 and Hess Corporation (NYSE:HES) which gained 3.56% to close at 127.45.

The worst performers were Albemarle Corp (NYSE:ALB) which was down 7.80% to 240.12 in late trade, Moodys Corporation (NYSE:MCO) which lost 6.36% to settle at 282.38 and The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS) which was down 6.10% to 58.69 at the close.

The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Missfresh Ltd ADR (NASDAQ:MF) which rose 51.05% to 0.24, Spark Networks SE ADR (NASDAQ:LOV) which was up 38.39% to settle at 2.92 and Energy Focu (NASDAQ:EFOI) which gained 37.42% to close at 1.22.

The worst performers were CASI Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:CASI) which was down 88.20% to 0.41 in late trade, Janone Inc (NASDAQ:JAN) which lost 32.98% to settle at 2.50 and Dogness International Corp Class A (NASDAQ:DOGZ) which was down 32.75% to 2.69 at the close.

Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the New York Stock Exchange by 1871 to 1274 and 126 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 2417 fell and 1402 advanced, while 165 ended unchanged.

Shares in HP Inc (NYSE:HPQ) rose to all time highs; rising 3.86% or 1.50 to 40.34. Shares in Hess Corporation (NYSE:HES) rose to 5-year highs; up 3.56% or 4.38 to 127.45.

The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 1.91% to 25.69.

Gold Futures for August delivery was up 0.08% or 1.55 to $1,849.95 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in July rose 0.15% or 0.17 to hit $114.84 a barrel, while the August Brent oil contract rose 0.19% or 0.22 to trade at $115.82 a barrel.

EUR/USD was down 0.77% to 1.07, while USD/JPY rose 1.15% to 130.16.

The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.80% at 102.58.