Investing.com – U.S. equities were higher at the close on Tuesday, as gains in the Technology, Basic Materials and Consumer Services sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.06%, while the S&P 500 index climbed 0.22%, and the NASDAQ Composite index gained 0.45%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL), which rose 0.63% or 0.73 points to trade at 117.25 at the close. Cisco Systems Inc (NASDAQ:CSCO) added 0.49% or 0.15 points to end at 30.68 and Merck & Company Inc (NYSE:MRK) was up 0.39% or 0.23 points to 59.79 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Nike Inc (NYSE:NKE), which lost 1.19% or 0.62 points to trade at 51.29 in late trade. Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) declined 0.42% or 0.36 points to end at 84.60 and UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) shed 0.24% or 0.39 points to 162.64.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) which rose 6.87% to 117.32, First Solar Inc (NASDAQ:FSLR) which was up 4.20% to settle at 33.99 and CF Industries Holdings Inc (NYSE:CF) which gained 4.04% to close at 31.95.
The worst performers were Mallinckrodt (NYSE:MNK) which was down 2.65% to 51.77 in late trade, Endo International PLC (NASDAQ:ENDP) which lost 2.27% to settle at 15.90 and Mattel Inc (NASDAQ:MAT) which was down 1.80% to 27.83 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Ignite Restaurant Group Inc (NASDAQ:IRG) which rose 87.52% to 0.727, Moleculin Biotech Inc (NASDAQ:MBRX) which was up 39.59% to settle at 2.75 and Conatus Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:CNAT) which gained 37.92% to close at 6.110.
The worst performers were Endologix Inc (NASDAQ:ELGX) which was down 26.70% to 5.27 in late trade, Pernix Therapeutics Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:PTX) which lost 19.32% to settle at 2.130 and Sphere 3D Corp (NASDAQ:ANY) which was down 16.06% to 0.260 at the close.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 1983 to 1249 and 39 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1468 rose and 1046 declined, while 119 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was up 4.63% to 11.97.
In commodities trading, Gold for February delivery was up 0.56% or 6.35 to $1139.95 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in February rose 1.55% or 0.82 to hit $53.84 a barrel, while the March Brent oil contract rose 1.56% or 0.87 to trade at $56.77 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.03% to 1.0457, while USD/JPY rose 0.30% to 117.44.
The US Dollar Index was up 0.06% at 103.01.