Investing.com – U.S. equities were mixed at the close on Tuesday, as gains in the Basic Materials, Oil & Gas and Financials sectors propelled shares higher while losses in the Technology, Consumer Services and Consumer Goods sectors led shares lower.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.27% to hit a new 6-month high, while the S&P 500 index climbed 0.31%, and the NASDAQ Composite index lost 0.40%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE:GS), which rose 2.28% or 3.63 points to trade at 162.65 at the close. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) added 2.14% or 2.73 points to end at 130.50 and Chevron Corporation (NYSE:CVX) was up 1.82% or 1.80 points to 100.50 in late trade.
Biggest losers included International Business Machines (NYSE:IBM), which lost 5.59% or 8.53 points to trade at 144.00 in late trade. Home Depot Inc (NYSE:HD) declined 0.99% or 1.36 points to end at 135.44 and Visa Inc (NYSE:V) shed 0.86% or 0.70 points to 80.75.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Transocean Ltd (NYSE:RIG) which rose 9.54% to 10.68, Freeport-McMoran Copper & Gold Inc (NYSE:FCX) which was up 8.98% to settle at 12.01 and Williams Companies Inc (NYSE:WMB) which gained 7.97% to close at 18.01.
The worst performers were Illumina Inc (NASDAQ:ILMN) which was down 23.16% to 136.88 in late trade, Netflix Inc (NASDAQ:NFLX) which lost 12.97% to settle at 94.34 and Viacom B Inc (NASDAQ:VIAB) which was down 8.31% to 35.64 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Eleven Biothera (NASDAQ:EBIO) which rose 36.54% to 0.7100, Cymabay Therapeu (NASDAQ:CBAY) which was up 32.54% to settle at 2.24 and Draftday Fantasy Sports Inc (NASDAQ:DDAY) which gained 29.79% to close at 0.4400.
The worst performers were Applied Opt (NASDAQ:AAOI) which was down 27.25% to 11.72 in late trade, American Caresource Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:GNOW) which lost 24.87% to settle at 0.2051 and Capstone Turbine Corp (NASDAQ:CPST) which was down 24.30% to 1.900 at the close.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 2275 to 1058 and 26 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1343 rose and 1222 declined, while 71 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 1.27% to 13.18.
In commodities trading, Gold for June delivery was up 1.41% or 17.40 to $1252.40 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in June rose 3.13% or 1.29 to hit $42.48 a barrel, while the June Brent oil contract rose 2.56% or 1.10 to trade at $44.01 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.41% to 1.1359, while USD/JPY rose 0.33% to 109.17.
The US Dollar Index was down 0.41% at 94.06.