Investing.com – U.S. equities were mixed at the close on Tuesday, as gains in the Utilities, Consumer Services and Basic Materials sectors propelled shares higher while losses in the Oil & Gas, Financials and Industrials sectors led shares lower.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.56%, while the S&P 500 index lost 0.29%, and the NASDAQ Composite index added 0.02%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Walmart Inc (NYSE:WMT), which rose 1.48% or 1.74 points to trade at 119.63 at the close. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) added 1.12% or 3.36 points to end at 302.14 and Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) was up 1.01% or 1.88 points to 187.23 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL), which lost 1.83% or 5.95 points to trade at 319.00 in late trade. Dow Inc (NYSE:DOW) declined 1.83% or 0.89 points to end at 47.74 and Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) shed 1.68% or 1.13 points to 66.14.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Franklin Resources Inc (NYSE:BEN) which rose 6.94% to 26.05, Advance Auto Parts Inc (NYSE:AAP) which was up 6.15% to settle at 141.81 and Kroger Company (NYSE:KR) which gained 5.24% to close at 29.71.
The worst performers were Vulcan Materials Company (NYSE:VMC) which was down 6.67% to 137.17 in late trade, ConAgra Foods Inc (NYSE:CAG) which lost 6.15% to settle at 30.68 and Baker Hughes A Ge Company LLC (NYSE:BKR) which was down 4.87% to 20.91 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Bellerophon Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:BLPH) which rose 168.37% to 9.2050, Wanda Sports Group Co Ltd (NASDAQ:WSG) which was up 45.48% to settle at 4.35 and Vical Inc (NASDAQ:BBI) which gained 42.24% to close at 1.650.
The worst performers were TKK Symphony Acquisition Corporation (NASDAQ:TKKS) which was down 31.00% to 6.90 in late trade, Summer Infant Inc (NASDAQ:SUMR) which lost 23.00% to settle at 0.7700 and Gemphire Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:NRBO) which was down 20.66% to 18.86 at the close.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 1622 to 1167 and 97 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1436 fell and 1198 advanced, 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 up 8.41% to 14.83.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for April delivery was up 1.14% or 18.05 to $1604.45 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in April rose 0.08% or 0.04 to hit $52.36 a barrel, while the April Brent oil contract rose 0.02% or 0.01 to trade at $57.68 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.03% to 1.0794, while USD/JPY rose 0.00% to 109.86.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.35% at 99.352.