Investing.com – U.S. equities were higher at the close on Tuesday, as gains in the Basic Materials, Oil & Gas and Industrials sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 1.26%, while the S&P 500 index added 1.25%, and the NASDAQ Composite index added 1.26%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE:GS), which rose 2.48% or 3.91 points to trade at 161.42 at the close. Caterpillar Inc (NYSE:CAT) added 2.44% or 1.73 points to end at 72.51 and United Technologies Corporation (NYSE:UTX) was up 2.06% or 2.06 points to 102.16 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Wal-Mart Stores Inc (NYSE:WMT), which lost 0.26% or 0.18 points to trade at 68.79 in late trade. Pfizer Inc (NYSE:PFE) declined 0.06% or 0.02 points to end at 33.80 and Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) gained 0.44% or 0.36 points to 82.48.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Southwestern Energy Company (NYSE:SWN) which rose 7.20% to 12.36, Dun & Bradstreet Corporation (NYSE:DNB) which was up 6.98% to settle at 119.56 and Hess Corporation (NYSE:HES) which gained 5.97% to close at 57.71.
The worst performers were Gap Inc (NYSE:GPS) which was down 11.51% to 19.30 in late trade, HCP Inc (NYSE:HCP) which lost 3.56% to settle at 34.71 and Centene Corporation (NYSE:CNC) which was down 2.47% to 59.16 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Alexza Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:ALXA) which rose 67.93% to 0.9070, ChemoCentryx Inc (NASDAQ:CCXI) which was up 42.38% to settle at 2.990 and RXI Pharmaceuticals Corp (NASDAQ:RXII) which gained 41.25% to close at 2.2600.
The worst performers were Epirus Biopharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:EPRS) which was down 60.29% to 1.080 in late trade, NewLink Genetics Corporation (NASDAQ:NLNK) which lost 30.61% to settle at 11.45 and MannKind Corporation (NASDAQ:MNKD) which was down 27.91% to 0.952 at the close.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 2500 to 819 and 27 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1651 rose and 899 declined, while 70 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 6.18% to 13.67.
In commodities trading, Gold for June delivery was up 0.12% or 1.50 to $1268.10 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in June rose 2.90% or 1.26 to hit $44.70 a barrel, while the July Brent oil contract rose 4.58% or 2.00 to trade at $45.63 a barrel.
EUR/USD was down 0.09% to 1.1372, while USD/JPY rose 0.88% to 109.28.
The US Dollar Index was up 0.10% at 94.23.