Investing.com – U.S. equities were higher at the close on Tuesday, as gains in the Healthcare, Consumer Services and Financials sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.05%, while the S&P 500 index climbed 0.03%, and the NASDAQ Composite index climbed 0.12%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE:MCD), which rose 1.06% or 1.22 points to trade at 116.43 at the close. Merck & Company Inc (NYSE:MRK) added 0.99% or 0.61 points to end at 61.94 and General Electric Company (NYSE:GE) was up 0.85% or 0.25 points to 29.68 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE:XOM), which lost 1.53% or 1.28 points to trade at 82.55 in late trade. EI du Pont de Nemours and Company (NYSE:DD) declined 0.94% or 0.63 points to end at 66.70 and American Express Company (NYSE:AXP) shed 0.56% or 0.36 points to 63.70.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd (NYSE:RCL) which rose 4.51% to 68.43, Gilead Sciences Inc (NASDAQ:GILD) which was up 3.53% to settle at 81.78 and Southwestern Energy Company (NYSE:SWN) which gained 2.74% to close at 14.24.
The worst performers were United Rentals Inc (NYSE:URI) which was down 4.56% to 75.57 in late trade, Tegna Inc (NYSE:TGNA) which lost 3.84% to settle at 20.5300 and Chesapeake Energy Corporation (NYSE:CHK) which was down 3.67% to 6.560 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Tobira Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:TBRA) which rose 720.89% to 38.91, Biostar Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:BSPM) which was up 30.00% to settle at 3.7700 and Aegerion Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:AEGR) which gained 27.42% to close at 2.37.
The worst performers were Ascena Retail Group Inc (NASDAQ:ASNA) which was down 29.93% to 5.69 in late trade, Venaxis Inc (NASDAQ:APPY) which lost 16.52% to settle at 3.7900 and Lonestar Resources Ltd (NASDAQ:LONE) which was down 13.57% to 9.81 at the close.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 1727 to 1421 and 105 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1340 fell and 1167 advanced, while 122 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was up 2.38% to 15.90.
In commodities trading, Gold for December delivery was up 0.02% or 0.25 to $1318.05 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in November rose 0.59% or 0.26 to hit $44.12 a barrel, while the November Brent oil contract fell 0.24% or 0.11 to trade at $45.84 a barrel.
EUR/USD was down 0.20% to 1.1153, while USD/JPY fell 0.19% to 101.74.
The US Dollar Index was up 0.19% at 95.97.