Investing.com – U.S. equities were higher at the close on Tuesday, as gains in the Basic Materials, Healthcare and Utilities sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.42%, while the S&P 500 index added 0.62%, and the NASDAQ Composite index climbed 0.85%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH), which rose 6.96% or 9.34 points to trade at 143.47 at the close. Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE:GS) added 2.10% or 3.55 points to end at 172.55 and Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) was up 1.23% or 0.46 points to 37.75 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ), which lost 2.62% or 3.10 points to trade at 115.39 in late trade. International Business Machines (NYSE:IBM) declined 2.59% or 4.01 points to end at 150.76 and McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE:MCD) shed 1.06% or 1.19 points to 111.22.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Netflix Inc (NASDAQ:NFLX) which rose 19.03% to 118.79, Harley-Davidson Inc (NYSE:HOG) which was up 8.97% to settle at 54.16 and UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) which gained 6.96% to close at 143.47.
The worst performers were Urban Outfitters Inc (NASDAQ:URBN) which was down 4.34% to 33.26 in late trade, WW Grainger Inc (NYSE:GWW) which lost 4.20% to settle at 205.56 and Delphi Automotive plc (NYSE:DLPH) which was down 3.51% to 64.09 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were MakeMyTrip Limited (NASDAQ:MMYT) which rose 44.36% to 29.45, Spherix Incorporated (NASDAQ:SPEX) which was up 31.30% to settle at 1.5100 and Ritter Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:RTTR) which gained 22.99% to close at 2.300.
The worst performers were Ultrapetrol Ltd (NASDAQ:ULTR) which was down 65.98% to 0.0847 in late trade, Capstone Turbine Corp (NASDAQ:CPST) which lost 17.29% to settle at 1.100 and Moleculin Biotech Inc (NASDAQ:MBRX) which was down 15.44% to 2.41 at the close.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 2381 to 778 and 81 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1547 rose and 896 declined, while 164 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 5.49% to 15.32.
In commodities trading, Gold for December delivery was up 0.51% or 6.35 to $1262.95 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in November rose 0.90% or 0.45 to hit $50.39 a barrel, while the December Brent oil contract rose 0.49% or 0.25 to trade at $51.77 a barrel.
EUR/USD was down 0.17% to 1.0979, while USD/JPY fell 0.06% to 103.84.
The US Dollar Index was up 0.03% at 97.89.