U.S. stocks lower at close of trade; Dow Jones Industrial Average down 0.42% By Investing.com

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

At the close in NYSE, the lost 0.42%, while the index lost 0.61%, and the index declined 0.76%.

The best performers of the session on the were Merck & Company Inc (NYSE:), which rose 1.24% or 1.37 points to trade at 111.55 at the close. Meanwhile, Boeing Co (NYSE:) added 0.60% or 1.12 points to end at 188.25 and Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:) was up 0.44% or 0.67 points to 152.91 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were American Express Company (NYSE:), which fell 2.32% or 3.65 points to trade at 153.87 at the close. Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE:) declined 2.25% or 8.31 points to end at 360.38 and Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:) was down 1.64% or 0.47 points to 28.26.

The top performers on the S&P 500 were Moderna Inc (NASDAQ:) which rose 5.78% to 208.95, Pfizer Inc (NYSE:) which was up 2.69% to settle at 54.50 and Delta Air Lines Inc (NYSE:) which gained 2.67% to close at 34.27.

The worst performers were Charter Communications Inc (NASDAQ:) which was down 16.38% to 328.34 in late trade, Caesars Entertainment Corporation (NASDAQ:) which lost 5.44% to settle at 49.69 and Albemarle Corp (NYSE:) which was down 5.38% to 247.83 at the close.

The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Icosavax Inc (NASDAQ:) which rose 112.38% to 8.92, Vallon Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:) which was up 104.69% to settle at 0.51 and Core Scientific Inc (NASDAQ:) which gained 69.72% to close at 0.25.

The worst performers were Netcapital Inc (NASDAQ:) which was down 36.82% to 1.39 in late trade, Bit Brother Ltd (NASDAQ:) which lost 35.74% to settle at 0.34 and Champions Oncology Inc (NASDAQ:) which was down 30.30% to 4.60 at the close.

Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the New York Stock Exchange by 1796 to 1252 and 123 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 2196 fell and 1527 advanced, while 170 ended unchanged.

Shares in Merck & Company Inc (NYSE:) rose to all time highs; rising 1.24% or 1.37 to 111.55. Shares in Champions Oncology Inc (NASDAQ:) fell to 52-week lows; falling 30.30% or 2.00 to 4.60.

The , which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 6.25% to 21.14.

Gold Futures for February delivery was down 0.35% or 6.35 to $1,819.15 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in January rose 2.68% or 2.02 to hit $77.41 a barrel, while the February Brent oil contract rose 2.73% or 2.20 to trade at $82.88 a barrel.

EUR/USD was up 0.48% to 1.07, while USD/JPY fell 0.13% to 135.40.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.33% at 103.23.