U.S. stocks lower at close of trade; Dow Jones Industrial Average down 2.58%

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

At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 2.58% to hit a new 1-month low, while the S&P 500 index declined 2.95%, and the NASDAQ Composite index fell 3.62%.

The best performers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Unitedhealth Group (NYSE:UNH), which rose 2.92% or 14.20 points to trade at 499.72 at the close. Meanwhile, Boeing Co (NYSE:BA) fell 0.28% or 0.48 points to end at 172.55 and Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) was down 0.73% or 1.25 points to 169.08 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN), which fell 4.60% or 10.63 points to trade at 220.52 at the close. American Express Company (NYSE:AXP) declined 4.50% or 13.56 points to end at 287.78 and Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE:GS) was down 4.25% or 24.43 points to 550.25.

The top performers on the S&P 500 were Jabil Circuit Inc (NYSE:JBL) which rose 7.26% to 143.69, Cigna Corp (NYSE:CI) which was up 6.30% to settle at 282.31 and Unitedhealth Group (NYSE:UNH) which gained 2.92% to close at 499.72.

The worst performers were Paycom Soft (NYSE:PAYC) which was down 10.08% to 209.49 in late trade, Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) which lost 8.24% to settle at 440.33 and BXP Inc (NYSE:BXP) which was down 7.70% to 74.18 at the close.

The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Snow Lake Resources Ltd (NASDAQ:LITM) which rose 334.04% to 0.79, Nukkleus Inc (NASDAQ:NUKK) which was up 327.53% to settle at 50.79 and Polyrizon Ltd (NASDAQ:PLRZ) which gained 213.33% to close at 3.29.

The worst performers were XCHG Ltd ADR (NASDAQ:XCH) which was down 90.78% to 2.15 in late trade, Fitell Corp (NASDAQ:FTEL) which lost 81.77% to settle at 7.00 and XChange TECINC DRC (NASDAQ:XHG) which was down 52.28% to 0.75 at the close.

Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the New York Stock Exchange by 2662 to 195 and 33 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 2861 fell and 474 advanced, while 77 ended unchanged.

Shares in XCHG Ltd ADR (NASDAQ:XCH) fell to all time lows; losing 90.78% or 21.18 to 2.15. Shares in Polyrizon Ltd (NASDAQ:PLRZ) rose to all time highs; gaining 213.33% or 2.24 to 3.29. Shares in XChange TECINC DRC (NASDAQ:XHG) fell to all time lows; down 52.28% or 0.83 to 0.75.

The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was up 74.04% to 27.62 a new 3-months high.

Gold Futures for February delivery was down 2.23% or 59.39 to $2,602.61 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in January fell 0.83% or 0.58 to hit $69.50 a barrel, while the February Brent oil contract fell 0.40% or 0.29 to trade at $72.90 a barrel.

EUR/USD was down 1.15% to 1.04, while USD/JPY rose 0.82% to 154.74.

The US Dollar Index Futures was up 1.09% at 107.82.