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 added 0.26% to hit a new 6-month high, while the S&P 500 index climbed 0.05%, and the NASDAQ Composite index gained 0.30%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Boeing Co (NYSE:BA), which rose 1.67% or 6.26 points to trade at 381.72 at the close. Caterpillar Inc (NYSE:CAT) added 1.27% or 1.78 points to end at 142.03 and Dow Inc (NYSE:DOW) was up 1.25% or 0.72 points to 58.50 in late trade.
Biggest losers included UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH), which lost 4.01% or 9.24 points to trade at 220.96 in late trade. Pfizer Inc (NYSE:PFE) declined 2.78% or 1.17 points to end at 40.92 and Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS) shed 1.62% or 2.14 points to 129.90.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Qualcomm Incorporated (NASDAQ:QCOM) which rose 23.21% to 70.45, Progressive Corp (NYSE:PGR) which was up 6.92% to settle at 77.26 and Omnicom Group Inc (NYSE:OMC) which gained 5.66% to close at 81.25.
The worst performers were HCA Holdings Inc (NYSE:HCA) which was down 10.00% to 114.38 in late trade, Cigna Corp (NYSE:CI) which lost 7.80% to settle at 151.04 and Humana Inc (NYSE:HUM) which was down 7.44% to 235.10 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were 360 Finance Inc (NASDAQ:QFIN) which rose 31.92% to 22.69, Iconix Brand Group Inc (NASDAQ:ICON) which was up 26.14% to settle at 1.93 and Jaguar Health Inc (NASDAQ:JAGX) which gained 25.84% to close at 0.280.
The worst performers were Uxin Ltd (NASDAQ:UXIN) which was down 36.07% to 1.95 in late trade, Chinanet Online Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:CNET) which lost 33.33% to settle at 1.4600 and Wave Life Sciences Ltd (NASDAQ:WVE) which was down 28.07% to 24.47 at the close.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 1566 to 1405 and 118 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1468 rose and 1168 declined, while 90 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 1.14% to 12.18.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for June delivery was down 0.92% or 11.85 to $1279.45 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in May rose 1.45% or 0.92 to hit $64.32 a barrel, while the June Brent oil contract rose 0.06% or 0.04 to trade at $71.90 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.08% to 1.1289, while USD/JPY rose 0.01% to 112.00.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.17% at 96.722.