Investing.com – U.S. equities were higher at the close on Tuesday, as gains in the Healthcare, Oil & Gas and Basic Materials sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in New York, the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.42%, while the S&P 500 index gained 0.45%, and the NASDAQ Composite index climbed 0.66%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH), which rose 2.08% or 2.55 points to trade at 125.00 at the close. JPMorgan Chase & Co (NYSE:JPM) added 1.40% or 0.95 points to end at 69.04 and Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO) was up 1.25% or 0.51 points to 41.17 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ), which lost 0.49% or 0.49 points to trade at 99.78 in late trade. International Business Machines (NYSE:IBM) declined 0.45% or 0.77 points to end at 168.61 and Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) shed 0.30% or 0.09 points to 29.64.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Micron Technology Inc (NASDAQ:MU) which rose 11.36% to 19.61, Chesapeake Energy Corporation (NYSE:CHK) which was up 4.40% to settle at 11.38 and Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:VRTX) which gained 4.19% to close at 129.44.
The worst performers were Navient Cor (NASDAQ:NAVI) which was down 10.57% to 16.42 in late trade, Fastenal Company (NASDAQ:FAST) which lost 3.99% to settle at 41.11 and Expedia Inc (NASDAQ:EXPE) which was down 3.47% to 107.26 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Magellan Petroleum Corporation (NASDAQ:MPET) which rose 23.47% to 2.630, SeaSpine Holdings Corp (NASDAQ:SPNE) which was up 22.67% to settle at 17.80 and Transgenomi (NASDAQ:TBIO) which gained 20.28% to close at 1.72.
The worst performers were 6D Global Technologies Inc (NASDAQ:SIXD) which was down 27.84% to 5.34 in late trade, Ambassadors Group Inc (NASDAQ:EPAX) which lost 25.83% to settle at 1.78 and Learning Tree International Inc (NASDAQ:LTRE) which was down 19.53% to 1.03 at the close.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 2032 to 1060 and 1 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1740 rose and 1040 declined, while 3 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 3.74% to 13.38.
In commodities trading, Gold for August delivery was down 0.09% or 1.00 to $1154.40 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in August rose 1.27% or 0.67 to hit $52.87 a barrel, while the September Brent oil contract rose 0.70% or 0.41 to trade at $58.55 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.08% to 1.1007, while USD/JPY fell 0.06% to 123.38.
The US Dollar Index was down 0.13% at 96.81.