Investing.com – U.S. equities were mixed at the close on Tuesday, as gains in the Utilities, Healthcare and Consumer Goods sectors propelled shares higher while losses in the Industrials, Basic Materials and Technology sectors led shares lower.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.54%, while the S&P 500 index declined 0.09%, and the NASDAQ Composite index gained 0.02%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Pfizer Inc (NYSE:PFE), which rose 1.34% or 0.42 points to trade at 31.73 at the close. Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) added 0.98% or 0.85 points to end at 87.60 and Merck & Company Inc (NYSE:MRK) was up 0.91% or 0.56 points to 61.99 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE:GS), which lost 1.96% or 4.58 points to trade at 229.32 in late trade. JPMorgan Chase & Co (NYSE:JPM) declined 1.63% or 1.40 points to end at 84.63 and Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) shed 1.60% or 0.60 points to 36.82.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc (NYSE:TMO) which rose 6.35% to 152.39, Mallinckrodt (NYSE:MNK) which was up 4.91% to settle at 48.73 and Mylan Inc (NASDAQ:MYL) which gained 4.71% to close at 38.05.
The worst performers were Under Armour Inc C (NYSE:UA) which was down 23.40% to 19.220 in late trade, United Parcel Service Inc (NYSE:UPS) which lost 6.75% to settle at 109.13 and Valero Energy Corporation (NYSE:VLO) which was down 3.62% to 65.76 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were DryShips Inc (NASDAQ:DRYS) which rose 105.28% to 5.05, Jaguar Animal Health Inc (NASDAQ:JAGX) which was up 50.91% to settle at 0.830 and Diana Containerships Inc (NASDAQ:DCIX) which gained 28.15% to close at 3.0500.
The worst performers were Tenax Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:TENX) which was down 76.41% to 0.460 in late trade, Dimension Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:DMTX) which lost 54.12% to settle at 1.95 and First NBC Bank Holding Company (NASDAQ:FNBC) which was down 32.77% to 4.00 at the close.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 2017 to 1188 and 58 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1530 rose and 988 declined, while 100 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was up 0.76% to 11.97.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for April delivery was up 1.41% or 16.85 to $1212.85 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in March rose 0.49% or 0.26 to hit $52.89 a barrel, while the April Brent oil contract rose 0.61% or 0.34 to trade at $55.66 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.94% to 1.0795, while USD/JPY fell 0.72% to 112.95.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.86% at 99.56.