U.S. stocks lower at close of trade; Dow Jones Industrial Average down 1.72%

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

At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1.72%, while the S&P 500 index declined 1.53%, and the NASDAQ Composite index lost 1.25%.

The best performers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Merck&Company Inc (NYSE:MRK), which rose 0.15% or 0.17 points to trade at 111.27 at the close. Meanwhile, Salesforce Inc (NYSE:CRM) fell 0.26% or 0.48 points to end at 183.32 and Nike Inc (NYSE:NKE) was down 0.48% or 0.58 points to 119.59 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc (NASDAQ:WBA), which fell 3.70% or 1.31 points to trade at 34.14 at the close. Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE:GS) declined 3.07% or 10.97 points to end at 346.08 and Caterpillar Inc (NYSE:CAT) was down 3.09% or 7.84 points to 246.14.

The top performers on the S&P 500 were DISH Network Corporation (NASDAQ:DISH) which rose 4.04% to 11.34, United Airlines Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:UAL) which was up 2.99% to settle at 54.01 and Delta Air Lines Inc (NYSE:DAL) which gained 1.59% to close at 39.07.

The worst performers were DXC Technology Co (NYSE:DXC) which was down 7.06% to 26.47 in late trade, Freeport-McMoran Copper&Gold Inc (NYSE:FCX) which lost 6.06% to settle at 40.14 and Lumen Technologies Inc (NYSE:LUMN) which was down 5.76% to 3.11 at the close.

The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Virax Biolabs Group Ltd (NASDAQ:VRAX) which rose 83.31% to 1.21, WW International Inc (NASDAQ:WW) which was up 79.07% to settle at 6.93 and Protagonist Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:PTGX) which gained 51.91% to close at 23.09.

The worst performers were Cara Therapeutic (NASDAQ:CARA) which was down 33.23% to 6.69 in late trade, Intrusion Inc (NASDAQ:INTZ) which lost 31.92% to settle at 1.52 and ObsEva SA (NASDAQ:OBSV) which was down 29.93% to 0.14 at the close.

Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the New York Stock Exchange by 2376 to 629 and 91 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 2450 fell and 1178 advanced, while 151 ended unchanged.

Shares in United Airlines Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:UAL) rose to 52-week highs; gaining 2.99% or 1.57 to 54.01. Shares in Lumen Technologies Inc (NYSE:LUMN) fell to 5-year lows; down 5.76% or 0.19 to 3.11. Shares in Cara Therapeutic (NASDAQ:CARA) fell to 5-year lows; down 33.23% or 3.33 to 6.69. Shares in Intrusion Inc (NASDAQ:INTZ) fell to 3-years lows; losing 31.92% or 0.71 to 1.52.

The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was up 5.27% to 19.59.

Gold Futures for April delivery was down 1.91% or 35.50 to $1,819.10 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in April fell 3.82% or 3.07 to hit $77.39 a barrel, while the May Brent oil contract fell 3.54% or 3.05 to trade at $83.13 a barrel.

EUR/USD was down 1.21% to 1.05, while USD/JPY rose 0.91% to 137.15.

The US Dollar Index Futures was up 1.22% at 105.60.