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 Technology, Consumer Goods and Consumer Services sectors led shares lower.

At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.54%, while the S&P 500 index fell 0.70%, and the NASDAQ Composite index declined 1.17%.

The best performers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Dow Inc (NYSE:DOW), which rose 0.97% or 0.54 points to trade at 55.55 at the close. Meanwhile, Honeywell International Inc (NASDAQ:HON) added 0.85% or 1.59 points to end at 189.24 and Caterpillar Inc (NYSE:CAT) was up 0.58% or 1.64 points to 284.53 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were Salesforce Inc (NYSE:CRM), which fell 2.70% or 5.72 points to trade at 205.86 at the close. Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) declined 2.11% or 0.74 points to end at 34.28 and Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE:GS) was down 1.60% or 5.57 points to 342.69.

The top performers on the S&P 500 were Axon Enterprise Inc (NASDAQ:AXON) which rose 14.06% to 200.44, Akamai Technologies Inc (NASDAQ:AKAM) which was up 8.47% to settle at 102.99 and Fleetcor Technologies Inc (NYSE:FLT) which gained 6.29% to close at 259.93.

The worst performers were NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) which was down 4.72% to 425.54 in late trade, Paramount Global Class B (NASDAQ:PARA) which lost 4.46% to settle at 15.62 and Broadcom Inc (NASDAQ:AVGO) which was down 3.67% to 850.73 at the close.

The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Tango Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:TNGX) which rose 103.92% to 7.81, Renovaro Biosciences Inc (NASDAQ:RENB) which was up 82.35% to settle at 1.55 and Decibel Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:DBTX) which gained 80.29% to close at 5.03.

The worst performers were Palisade Bio Inc (NASDAQ:PALI) which was down 62.50% to 0.72 in late trade, Bruush Oral Care Inc Unit (NASDAQ:BRSH) which lost 44.94% to settle at 4.24 and Yellow Corp (NASDAQ:YELL) which was down 44.81% to 1.70 at the close.

Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the New York Stock Exchange by 1594 to 1329 and 76 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 2226 fell and 1282 advanced, while 113 ended unchanged.

Shares in Akamai Technologies Inc (NASDAQ:AKAM) rose to 52-week highs; rising 8.47% or 8.04 to 102.99. Shares in Palisade Bio Inc (NASDAQ:PALI) fell to all time lows; losing 62.50% or 1.21 to 0.72.

The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 0.19% to 15.96.

Gold Futures for December delivery was down 0.57% or 11.25 to $1,948.65 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in September rose 1.62% or 1.34 to hit $84.26 a barrel, while the October Brent oil contract rose 1.47% or 1.27 to trade at $87.44 a barrel.

EUR/USD was unchanged 0.17% to 1.10, while USD/JPY rose 0.22% to 143.68.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.01% at 102.33.