At the close of the New York Stock Exchange, the Dow Jones was down 0.80%, the S&P 500 was down 1.26% and the NASDAQ Composite was down 2.26%.

UnitedHealth Group Incorporated was the top performer in the Dow Jones Index today, up 7.74 points or 1.52% to close at 517.76. McDonald's Corporation rose 1.68 points or 0.68% to close at 248.51. Johnson & Johnson rose 0.65% or 1.14 points to close at 177.61.

The losers were Boeing Co shares, which fell 8.53 points or 4.46% to end the session at 182.65. Salesforce.com Inc. shares rose 8.71 points (3.98%) to close at 210.14, while Intel Corporation was down 1.07 points (2.17%) to close at 48. ,13.

Leading gainers among the components of the S&P 500 in today's trading were Zimmer Biomet Holdings Inc, which rose 2.60% to hit 129.13, Carnival Corporation, which gained 2.43% to close at 20.22, and also shares of JM Smucker Company, which rose 2.32% to close the session at 137.77.

The drop leaders were MarketAxess Holdings Inc, which shed 10.97% to close at 307.60. Shares of Monolithic Power Systems Inc shed 7.41% to end the session at 439.38. Quotes of Ceridian HCM Holding Inc decreased in price by 6.37% to 65.66.

Leading gainers among the components of the NASDAQ Composite in today's trading were Anghami De Inc, which rose 47.52% to hit 13.41, Inozyme Pharma Inc, which gained 38.60% to close at 5.96, and also shares of Kaspien Holdings Inc, which rose 34.18% to end the session at 9.50.

The drop leaders were shares of Cognyte Software Ltd, which fell 31.13% to close at 8.03. Shares of Imara Inc lost 22.09% and ended the session at 1.27. Quotes of Immix Biopharma Inc decreased in price by 22.01% to 2.02.

On the New York Stock Exchange, the number of securities that fell in price (2638) exceeded the number of those that closed in positive territory (591), while quotes of 115 shares remained virtually unchanged. On the NASDAQ stock exchange, 2,858 stocks fell, 996 rose, and 207 remained at the previous close.

The CBOE Volatility Index, which is based on S&P 500 options trading, rose 13.25% to March 21.

Gold futures for June delivery lost 0.71%, or 13.80, to hit $1.00 a troy ounce. In other commodities, WTI crude for May delivery fell 2.51%, or 2.59, to $100.69 a barrel. Brent futures for June delivery fell 2.01%, or 2.16, to $105.37 a barrel.

Meanwhile, on the Forex market, EUR/USD fell 0.59% to hit 1.09, while USD/JPY edged up 0.69% to hit 123.63.

Futures on the USD index rose by 0.51% to 99.47.