U.S. shares mixed at close of trade; Dow Jones Industrial Average down 0.21%

Investing.com – U.S. equities were mixed at the close on Tuesday, as gains in the Oil & Gas , Utilities and Healthcare sectors propelled shares higher while losses in the Basic Materials , Industrials and Telecoms sectors led shares lower.

At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.21%, while the S&P 500 index fell 0.14%, and the NASDAQ Composite index climbed 0.03%.

The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Walmart Inc (NYSE: WMT ), which rose 2.52% or 2.39 points to trade at 97.08 at the close. Chevron Corp (NYSE: CVX ) added 1.59% or 1.98 points to end at 126.82 and Apple Inc (NASDAQ: AAPL ) was up 1.39% or 3.10 points to 226.87 in late trade.

Biggest losers included DowDuPont Inc (NYSE: DWDP ), which lost 3.67% or 2.32 points to trade at 60.84 in late trade. United Technologies Corporation (NYSE: UTX ) declined 2.66% or 3.71 points to end at 135.88 and Caterpillar Inc (NYSE: CAT ) shed 2.54% or 3.89 points to 149.46.

The top performers on the S&P 500 were Chesapeake Energy Corporation (NYSE: CHK ) which rose 4.28% to 4.870, Pioneer Natural Resources Company (NYSE: PXD ) which was up 3.34% to settle at 187.92 and MGM Resorts International (NYSE: MGM ) which gained 3.29% to close at 27.34.

The worst performers were PPG Industries Inc (NYSE: PPG ) which was down 10.06% to 98.56 in late trade, Packaging Corp of America (NYSE: PKG ) which lost 8.13% to settle at 93.14 and WestRock Co (NYSE: WRK ) which was down 7.90% to 45.25 at the close.

The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Youngevity International Inc (NASDAQ: YGYI ) which rose 66.01% to 10.160, One Horizon Group Inc (NASDAQ: OHGI ) which was up 65.25% to settle at 0.3900 and Agile Thrpe (NASDAQ: AGRX ) which gained 53.71% to close at 0.71.

The worst performers were Trevena Inc (NASDAQ: TRVN ) which was down 64.09% to 1.07 in late trade, Arbutus Biopharma Corp (NASDAQ: ABUS ) which lost 33.99% to settle at 6.000 and Affimed NV (NASDAQ: AFMD ) which was down 24.41% to 3.500 at the close.

Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 1671 to 1390 and 103 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1579 fell and 1050 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 3.06% to 16.17 a new 3-month high.

In commodities trading, Gold Futures for December delivery was up 0.38% or 4.50 to $1193.10 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in November rose 0.54% or 0.40 to hit $74.69 a barrel, while the December Brent oil contract rose 1.08% or 0.91 to trade at $84.82 a barrel.

EUR/USD was up 0.03% to 1.1496, while USD/JPY fell 0.23% to 112.97.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.10% at 95.34.