U.S. stocks lower at close of trade; Dow Jones Industrial Average down 1.63%

Investing.com – U.S. stocks were lower after the close on Wednesday, as losses in the Financials, Oil&Gas and Utilities sectors led shares lower.

At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 1.63%, while the S&P 500 index fell 1.65%, and the NASDAQ Composite index fell 1.60%.

The best performers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Procter&Gamble Company (NYSE:PG), which fell 0.09% or 0.13 points to trade at 143.96 at the close. Meanwhile, Coca-Cola Co (NYSE:KO) fell 0.46% or 0.28 points to end at 60.04 and Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) was down 0.54% or 1.49 points to 272.29 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were Nike Inc (NYSE:NKE), which fell 4.88% or 6.13 points to trade at 119.48 at the close. Boeing Co (NYSE:BA) declined 4.19% or 8.58 points to end at 196.12 and Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc (NASDAQ:WBA) was down 3.10% or 1.04 points to 32.50.

The top performers on the S&P 500 were Match Group Inc (NASDAQ:MTCH) which rose 2.27% to 39.22, Advanced Micro Devices Inc (NASDAQ:AMD) which was up 1.72% to settle at 97.58 and NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) which gained 1.03% to close at 264.68.

The worst performers were First Republic Bank (NYSE:FRC) which was down 15.85% to 13.27 in late trade, Comerica Inc (NYSE:CMA) which lost 8.53% to settle at 44.48 and Lincoln National Corporation (NYSE:LNC) which was down 7.86% to 20.76 at the close.

The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Maxpro Capital Acquisition Corp (NASDAQ:JMAC) which rose 56.84% to 13.88, Lixiang Education Holding Co Ltd (NASDAQ:LXEH) which was up 38.70% to settle at 1.00 and EZGO Technologies Ltd (NASDAQ:EZGO) which gained 33.65% to close at 1.41.

The worst performers were Qutoutiao Inc (NASDAQ:QTT) which was down 38.43% to 0.18 in late trade, Color Star Technology Co Ltd (NASDAQ:ADD) which lost 36.48% to settle at 1.55 and Meihua International Medical Technologies Co Ltd (NASDAQ:MHUA) which was down 33.60% to 8.20 at the close.

Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the New York Stock Exchange by 2228 to 757 and 110 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 2692 fell and 931 advanced, while 137 ended unchanged.

Shares in Maxpro Capital Acquisition Corp (NASDAQ:JMAC) rose to all time highs; gaining 56.84% or 5.03 to 13.88. Shares in Qutoutiao Inc (NASDAQ:QTT) fell to all time lows; falling 38.43% or 0.11 to 0.18.

The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was up 4.12% to 22.26.

Gold Futures for April delivery was up 1.66% or 32.20 to $1,973.30 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in May rose 0.36% or 0.25 to hit $69.92 a barrel, while the May Brent oil contract fell 0.04% or 0.03 to trade at $75.78 a barrel.

EUR/USD was unchanged 0.04% to 1.09, while USD/JPY fell 0.02% to 131.41.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.69% at 102.18.