U.S. stocks lower at close of trade; Dow Jones Industrial Average down 0.25%

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

At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 0.25%, while the S&P 500 index declined 0.29%, and the NASDAQ Composite index lost 0.30%.

The best performers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL), which rose 1.80% or 3.90 points to trade at 220.69 at the close. Meanwhile, Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS) added 0.78% or 0.72 points to end at 93.58 and Walmart Inc (NYSE:WMT) was up 0.55% or 0.43 points to 79.03 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC), which fell 3.26% or 0.70 points to trade at 20.77 at the close. Honeywell International Inc (NASDAQ:HON) declined 1.27% or 2.60 points to end at 201.64 and American Express Company (NYSE:AXP) was down 1.21% or 3.22 points to 262.18.

The top performers on the S&P 500 were West Pharmaceutical Services Inc (NYSE:WST) which rose 4.50% to 309.18, VF Corporation (NYSE:VFC) which was up 3.86% to settle at 19.11 and Dollar Tree Inc (NASDAQ:DLTR) which gained 2.95% to close at 75.67.

The worst performers were ResMed Inc (NYSE:RMD) which was down 5.12% to 238.03 in late trade, Avery Dennison Corp (NYSE:AVY) which lost 4.92% to settle at 209.36 and Sysco Corporation (NYSE:SYY) which was down 4.17% to 74.54 at the close.

The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Odyssey Marine Exploration Inc (NASDAQ:OMEX) which rose 182.09% to 1.40, Plum Acquisition I Corp (NASDAQ:VEEA) which was up 131.13% to settle at 12.25 and Portage Biotech Inc (NASDAQ:PRTG) which gained 118.76% to close at 9.91.

The worst performers were Galmed Pharmaceuticals Ltd (NASDAQ:GLMD) which was down 54.30% to 6.90 in late trade, Datasea Inc (NASDAQ:DTSS) which lost 31.97% to settle at 2.00 and Kineta Inc (NASDAQ:KA) which was down 30.69% to 0.57 at the close.

Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the New York Stock Exchange by 1538 to 1261 and 109 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1866 fell and 1406 advanced, while 149 ended unchanged.

Shares in Plum Acquisition I Corp (NASDAQ:VEEA) rose to all time highs; rising 131.13% or 6.95 to 12.25.

The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was up 3.52% to 18.23.

Gold Futures for December delivery was down 0.36% or 9.30 to $2,583.10 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in November fell 1.13% or 0.79 to hit $69.17 a barrel, while the November Brent oil contract fell 1.03% or 0.76 to trade at $72.94 a barrel.

EUR/USD was unchanged 0.05% to 1.11, while USD/JPY fell 0.08% to 142.28.

The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.07% at 100.64.