Investing.com – U.S. equities were higher at the close on Tuesday, as gains in the Utilities, Telecommunications and Basic Materials sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in New York, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.51% to hit a new all time high, while the S&P 500 index added 0.28%, and the NASDAQ Composite index added 0.14%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Home Depot Inc (NYSE:HD), which rose 3.98% or 4.47 points to trade at 116.75 at the close. JPMorgan Chase & Co (NYSE:JPM) added 2.48% or 1.47 points to end at 60.82 and Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) was up 1.93% or 0.65 points to 34.41 in late trade.
Biggest losers included UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH), which lost 0.83% or 0.97 points to trade at 115.43 in late trade. Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS) declined 0.30% or 0.32 points to end at 104.67 and Boeing Company (NYSE:BA) shed 0.23% or 0.36 points to 154.38.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were First Solar Inc (NASDAQ:FSLR) which rose 10.19% to 54.70, Expeditors International Washington (NASDAQ:EXPD) which was up 5.29% to settle at 47.88 and Home Depot Inc (NYSE:HD) which gained 3.98% to close at 116.75.
The worst performers were Diamond Offshore Drilling Inc (NYSE:DO) which was down 8.42% to 30.79 in late trade, Windstream Corporation (NASDAQ:WIN) which lost 8.39% to settle at 7.86 and ENSCO plc (NYSE:ESV) which was down 5.86% to 26.97 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Corporte Re (NASDAQ:CRRS) which rose 378.63% to 0.24, BioClinica (NASDAQ:BIOC) which was up 54.09% to settle at 3.39 and Helios and Matheson Analytics Inc (NASDAQ:HMNY) which gained 59.10% to close at 3.500.
The worst performers were Great Basin Scientific Inc (NASDAQ:GBSN) which was down 28.07% to 2.46 in late trade, Real Goods Solar Inc (NASDAQ:RGSE) which lost 27.04% to settle at 0.510 and Ivanhoe Energy Inc (NASDAQ:IVAN) which was down 20.32% to 0.320 at the close.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 1613 to 1212; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1575 rose and 1205 declined, while 1 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 5.91% to 13.70 a new 1-month low.
In commodities trading, Gold for April delivery was down 0.07% or 0.90 to $1199.90 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude Oil for delivery in April fell 0.88% or 0.43 to hit $49.02 a barrel, while the April Brent Oil contract fell 0.48% or 0.28 to trade at $58.62 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.07% to 1.1343, while USD/JPY rose 0.06% to 118.89.
The US Dollar Index was down 0.15% at 94.52.