At the close on the New York Stock Exchange, the Dow Jones fell 0.45% to hit a monthly low, the S&P 500 index fell 0.72%, and the NASDAQ Composite index fell 0.90%.

The leading performer among the components of the Dow Jones index today was Home Depot Inc, which gained 4.43 points (1.63%) to close at 275.97. Amgen Inc rose 3.48 points or 1.53% to close at 231.14. Johnson & Johnson rose 2.52 points or 1.53% to close at 167.60.

The losers were Boeing Co shares, which fell 5.49 points or 3.67% to end the session at 144.29. Chevron Corp was up 2.60% or 4.17 points to close at 156.45, while Walt Disney Company was down 2.28% or 2.52 points to close at 108. 25.

Leading gainers among the S&P 500 index components in today's trading were Iron Mountain Incorporated, which rose 3.35% to hit 55.29, Newmont Goldcorp Corp, which gained 3.09% to close at 43.71, and also Dollar Tree Inc, which rose 2.89% to end the session at 141.92.

The biggest losers were FedEx Corporation, which shed 21.40% to close at 161.02. Shares of WestRock Co lost 11.48% to end the session at 34.15. Quotes of International Paper fell in price by 11.21% to 35.23.

Leading gainers among the components of the NASDAQ Composite in today's trading were Panbela Therapeutics Inc, which rose 53.06% to hit 0.58, Applied Opt, which gained 50.40% to close at 3.76, and shares of Axcella Health Inc, which rose 29.57% to end the session at 2.41.

The biggest losers were Aditx Therapeutics Inc, which shed 58.52% to close at 4.31. Shares of Esports Entertainment Group Inc lost 46.15% and ended the session at 0.18. Shuttle Pharmaceuticals Inc lost 45.94% to 8.99.

On the New York Stock Exchange, the number of securities that fell in price (2294) exceeded the number of those that closed in positive territory (816), and quotes of 121 shares remained virtually unchanged. On the NASDAQ stock exchange, 2,586 stocks fell, 1,158 rose, and 233 remained at the previous close.

The CBOE Volatility Index, which is based on S&P 500 options trading, rose 0.11% to 26.30.

Gold Futures for December delivery added 0.38%, or 6.35, to hit $1.00 a troy ounce. In other commodities, WTI October futures rose 0.29%, or 0.25, to $85.35 a barrel. Brent oil futures for November delivery rose 0.81%, or 0.74, to $91.58 a barrel.

Meanwhile, in the forex market, the EUR/USD pair remained unchanged 0.10% to 1.00, while USD/JPY fell 0.40% to hit 142.95.

Futures on the USD index fell 0.02% to 109.43.