U.S. shares higher at close of trade; Dow Jones Industrial Average up 0.37%

Investing.com – U.S. equities were higher at the close on Tuesday, as gains in the Telecoms , Consumer Services and Basic Materials sectors propelled shares higher.

At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.37% to hit a new all time high, while the S&P 500 index climbed 0.22%, and the NASDAQ Composite index gained 0.23%.

The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Verizon Communications Inc (NYSE: VZ ), which rose 0.99% or 0.49 points to trade at 49.85 at the close. American Express Company (NYSE: AXP ) added 0.98% or 0.89 points to end at 91.43 and Wal-Mart Stores Inc (NYSE: WMT ) was up 0.98% or 0.77 points to 79.22 in late trade.

Biggest losers included Nike Inc (NYSE: NKE ), which lost 0.77% or 0.40 points to trade at 51.47 in late trade. Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT ) declined 0.47% or 0.35 points to end at 74.26 and Merck & Company Inc (NYSE: MRK ) shed 0.28% or 0.18 points to 64.37.

The top performers on the S&P 500 were Delta Air Lines Inc (NYSE: DAL ) which rose 6.62% to 51.25, United Continental Holdings Inc (NYSE: UAL ) which was up 6.14% to settle at 64.14 and American Airlines Group (NASDAQ: AAL ) which gained 5.82% to close at 50.51.

The worst performers were F5 Networks Inc (NASDAQ: FFIV ) which was down 4.77% to 117.82 in late trade, Hanesbrands Inc (NYSE: HBI ) which lost 4.48% to settle at 23.86 and Urban Outfitters Inc (NASDAQ: URBN ) which was down 3.67% to 23.11 at the close.

The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Celsion Corp (NASDAQ: CLSN ) which rose 301.32% to 6.060, Medical Transcription Billing Corp (NASDAQ: MTBC ) which was up 109.27% to settle at 3.1600 and Xenetic Biosciences Inc (NASDAQ: XBIO ) which gained 89.39% to close at 3.390.

The worst performers were Tile Shop Hldgs Inc (NASDAQ: TTS ) which was down 35.98% to 8.450 in late trade, Fuling Global Inc (NASDAQ: FORK ) which lost 14.89% to settle at 4.000 and Avinger Inc (NASDAQ: AVGR ) which was down 14.81% to 0.30 at the close.

Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 1722 to 1341 and 161 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1296 rose and 1212 declined, while 136 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.

The CBOE Volatility Index , which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was up 1.27% to 9.57.

In commodities trading, Gold Futures for December delivery was up 0.17% or 2.16 to $1273.96 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in November fell 0.20% or 0.10 to hit $50.36 a barrel, while the December Brent oil contract fell 0.39% or 0.22 to trade at $55.90 a barrel.

EUR/USD was up 0.14% to 1.1748, while USD/JPY rose 0.09% to 112.86.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.07% at 93.41.