Investing.com – U.S. equities were higher at the close on Tuesday, as gains in the Basic Materials, Utilities and Telecoms sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.03% to hit a new 3-month high, while the S&P 500 index added 0.15%, and the NASDAQ Composite index climbed 0.19%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Walmart Inc (NYSE:WMT), which rose 2.21% or 2.21 points to trade at 102.20 at the close. Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) added 1.53% or 1.51 points to end at 99.99 and Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc (NASDAQ:WBA) was up 1.36% or 1.00 points to 74.43 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Nike Inc (NYSE:NKE), which lost 0.95% or 0.81 points to trade at 84.57 in late trade. Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO) declined 0.91% or 0.41 points to end at 44.83 and American Express Company (NYSE:AXP) shed 0.82% or 0.88 points to 106.50.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Pacific Gas & Electric Co (NYSE:PCG) which rose 14.60% to 17.74, Navient Corp (NASDAQ:NAVI) which was up 9.04% to settle at 12.79 and Freeport-McMoran Copper & Gold Inc (NYSE:FCX) which gained 6.60% to close at 13.09.
The worst performers were Allegion PLC (NYSE:ALLE) which was down 3.87% to 88.02 in late trade, Electronic Arts Inc (NASDAQ:EA) which lost 3.63% to settle at 102.96 and International Flavors & Fragrances Inc (NYSE:IFF) which was down 2.95% to 128.11 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Arts-Way Manufacturing Co Inc (NASDAQ:ARTW) which rose 37.82% to 2.660, Marathon Patent Group Inc (NASDAQ:MARA) which was up 35.17% to settle at 0.730 and Riot Blockchain Inc (NASDAQ:RIOT) which gained 34.82% to close at 3.3300.
The worst performers were Pernix Therapeutics Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:PTX) which was down 68.29% to 0.361 in late trade, Windstream Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:WIN) which lost 61.13% to settle at 1.31 and Uniti Group Inc (NASDAQ:UNIT) which was down 37.39% to 12.51 at the close.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 1935 to 1069 and 109 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1573 rose and 1064 declined, while 88 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 0.20% to 14.88 a new 3-month low.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for April delivery was up 1.66% or 21.95 to $1344.05 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in April rose 0.79% or 0.44 to hit $56.42 a barrel, while the April Brent oil contract rose 0.02% or 0.01 to trade at $66.48 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.01% to 1.1341, while USD/JPY fell 0.02% to 110.59.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.40% at 96.355.