Investing.com – U.S. equities were higher at the close on Tuesday, as gains in the Telecoms, Oil & Gas and Healthcare sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.36%, while the S&P 500 index climbed 0.30%, and the NASDAQ Composite index added 0.46%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Dow Inc (NYSE:DOW), which rose 2.39% or 1.27 points to trade at 54.48 at the close. Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) added 1.64% or 2.45 points to end at 151.42 and The Travelers Companies Inc (NYSE:TRV) was up 1.15% or 1.54 points to 135.44 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc (NASDAQ:WBA), which lost 0.84% or 0.35 points to trade at 42.08 in late trade. Home Depot Inc (NYSE:HD) declined 0.59% or 1.54 points to end at 261.10 and American Express Company (NYSE:AXP) shed 0.40% or 0.50 points to 123.44.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Equifax Inc (NYSE:EFX) which rose 8.02% to 184.53, Arconic Corp (NYSE:ARNC) which was up 5.90% to settle at 30.51 and Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd (NYSE:NCLH) which gained 5.64% to close at 28.00.
The worst performers were H&R Block Inc (NYSE:HRB) which was down 7.94% to 16.30 in late trade, Alliance Data Systems Corp (NYSE:ADS) which lost 5.98% to settle at 76.21 and AutoZone Inc (NYSE:AZO) which was down 5.35% to 1095.22 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Curis Inc (NASDAQ:CRIS) which rose 345.14% to 6.410, Lexicon Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:LXRX) which was up 70.52% to settle at 2.95 and IGM Biosciences Inc (NASDAQ:IGMS) which gained 60.11% to close at 116.75.
The worst performers were Codiak BioSciences Inc (NASDAQ:CDAK) which was down 19.47% to 16.09 in late trade, Meten Edtechx Education Group Ltd (NASDAQ:METX) which lost 19.45% to settle at 2.36 and Arcturus Therapeutics Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:ARCT) which was down 19.00% to 100.17 at the close.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 1862 to 1225 and 82 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1761 rose and 1214 declined, while 85 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 2.77% to 20.71.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for February delivery was up 0.44% or 8.25 to $1874.25 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in January fell 0.24% or 0.11 to hit $45.65 a barrel, while the February Brent oil contract rose 0.20% or 0.10 to trade at $48.89 a barrel.
EUR/USD was down 0.04% to 1.2104, while USD/JPY rose 0.11% to 104.17.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.22% at 90.987.