U.S. shares lower at close of trade; Dow Jones Industrial Average down 0.22%

Investing.com – U.S. equities were lower at the close on Wednesday, as losses in the Technology, Telecoms and Basic Materials sectors propelled shares lower.

At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.22%, while the S&P 500 index lost 0.33%, and the NASDAQ Composite index fell 0.49%.

The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Visa Inc Class A (NYSE:V), which rose 2.97% or 8.38 points to trade at 290.26 at the close. American Express Company (NYSE:AXP) added 1.35% or 3.65 points to end at 274.08 and Merck&Company Inc (NYSE:MRK) was up 1.21% or 1.26 points to 104.99 in late trade.

Biggest losers included International Business Machines (NYSE:IBM), which lost 2.63% or 5.53 points to trade at 204.90 in late trade. Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) declined 2.62% or 0.60 points to end at 22.30 and Nike Inc (NYSE:NKE) shed 2.51% or 1.97 points to 76.43.

The top performers on the S&P 500 were Garmin Ltd (NYSE:GRMN) which rose 23.25% to 204.92, FMC Corporation (NYSE:FMC) which was up 10.70% to settle at 66.62 and Bio-Techne Corp (NASDAQ:TECH) which gained 7.46% to close at 76.02.

The worst performers were Super Micro Computer Inc (NASDAQ:SMCI) which was down 32.68% to 33.07 in late trade, Qorvo Inc (NASDAQ:QRVO) which lost 27.31% to settle at 73.04 and CDW Corp (NASDAQ:CDW) which was down 11.30% to 195.06 at the close.

The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Vast Renewables Ltd (NASDAQ:VSTE) which rose 122.55% to 2.27, Tharimmune Inc (NASDAQ:THAR) which was up 69.31% to settle at 3.42 and Ensysce Biosciences Inc (NASDAQ:ENSC) which gained 53.81% to close at 0.64.

The worst performers were Vicinity Motor Corp (NASDAQ:VEV) which was down 58.30% to 0.02 in late trade, SRIVARU Holding Ltd (NASDAQ:SVMH) which lost 55.46% to settle at 0.03 and Applied DNA Sciences Inc (NASDAQ:APDN) which was down 40.56% to 0.19 at the close.

Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 1413 to 1383 and 91 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1936 fell and 1353 advanced, while 130 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.

The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was up 5.22% to 20.35.

In commodities trading, Gold Futures for December delivery was up 0.58% or 16.15 to $2,797.25 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in December rose 2.59% or 1.74 to hit $68.95 a barrel, while the January Brent oil contract rose 2.52% or 1.78 to trade at $72.51 a barrel.

EUR/USD was unchanged 0.37% to 1.09, while USD/JPY rose 0.02% to 153.38.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.20% at 103.99.