Investing.com – U.S. equities were higher at the close on Tuesday, as gains in the Basic Materials, Oil & Gas and Financials sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.47% to hit a new all time high, while the S&P 500 index climbed 0.29%, and the NASDAQ Composite index climbed 0.02%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Caterpillar Inc (NYSE:CAT), which rose 5.88% or 6.36 points to trade at 114.54 at the close. McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE:MCD) added 4.75% or 7.22 points to end at 159.07 and Wal-Mart Stores Inc (NYSE:WMT) was up 2.12% or 1.63 points to 78.52 in late trade.
Biggest losers included 3M Company (NYSE:MMM), which lost 5.05% or 10.61 points to trade at 199.39 in late trade. United Technologies Corporation (NYSE:UTX) declined 2.20% or 2.71 points to end at 120.42 and Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) shed 0.85% or 1.13 points to 131.88.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Freeport-McMoran Copper & Gold Inc (NYSE:FCX) which rose 14.74% to 14.87, Newmont Mining Corporation (NYSE:NEM) which was up 6.90% to settle at 36.24 and Range Resources Corporation (NYSE:RRC) which gained 6.83% to close at 21.82.
The worst performers were Seagate Technology PLC (NASDAQ:STX) which was down 16.50% to 33.20 in late trade, Interpublic Group of Companies Inc (NYSE:IPG) which lost 13.34% to settle at 22.16 and Micron Technology Inc (NASDAQ:MU) which was down 5.59% to 29.90 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Qualstar Corporation (NASDAQ:QBAK) which rose 23.39% to 11.6600, Compugen Ltd (NASDAQ:CGEN) which was up 19.12% to settle at 4.05 and Altimmune Inc (NASDAQ:ALT) which gained 18.37% to close at 2.900.
The worst performers were Neuralstem Inc (NASDAQ:CUR) which was down 49.64% to 2.8100 in late trade, Novavax Inc (NASDAQ:NVAX) which lost 27.15% to settle at 1.100 and SenesTech Inc (NASDAQ:SNES) which was down 20.68% to 2.80 at the close.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 1912 to 1199 and 137 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1425 rose and 1071 declined, while 131 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was up 0.21% to 9.45 a new all time low.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for August delivery was down 0.29% or 3.63 to $1250.67 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in September rose 3.65% or 1.69 to hit $48.03 a barrel, while the September Brent oil contract rose 3.52% or 1.71 to trade at $50.31 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.03% to 1.1646, while USD/JPY rose 0.73% to 111.91.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.12% at 93.93.