U.S. shares mixed at close of trade; Dow Jones Industrial Average up 0.18%

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

At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.18% to hit a new all time high, while the S&P 500 index climbed 0.07%, and the NASDAQ Composite index fell 0.01%.

The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE: UNH ), which rose 5.53% or 10.69 points to trade at 203.89 at the close. Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ ) added 3.43% or 4.67 points to end at 140.79 and Nike Inc (NYSE: NKE ) was up 1.23% or 0.63 points to 52.00 in late trade.

Biggest losers included Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE: GS ), which lost 2.61% or 6.32 points to trade at 236.09 in late trade. General Electric Company (NYSE: GE ) declined 0.73% or 0.17 points to end at 23.19 and Caterpillar Inc (NYSE: CAT ) shed 0.71% or 0.93 points to 130.54.

The top performers on the S&P 500 were WW Grainger Inc (NYSE: GWW ) which rose 12.65% to 205.42, Pacific Gas & Electric Co (NYSE: PCG ) which was up 7.51% to settle at 57.44 and UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE: UNH ) which gained 5.53% to close at 203.89.

The worst performers were Coty Inc (NYSE: COTY ) which was down 4.90% to 16.00 in late trade, Xylem Inc (NYSE: XYL ) which lost 4.14% to settle at 63.23 and Mosaic Company (NYSE: MOS ) which was down 3.84% to 21.06 at the close.

The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Neothetics Inc (NASDAQ: NEOT ) which rose 231.15% to 1.72, Social Reality Inc (NASDAQ: SRAX ) which was up 70.73% to settle at 4.9000 and Destination Maternity Corporation (NASDAQ: DEST ) which gained 48.75% to close at 2.38.

The worst performers were Adomani Inc (NASDAQ: ADOM ) which was down 25.69% to 4.83 in late trade, Immune Design Corp (NASDAQ: IMDZ ) which lost 18.81% to settle at 8.20 and TDH Holdings Inc (NASDAQ: PETZ ) which was down 15.81% to 24.60 at the close.

Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 1776 to 1283 and 150 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1599 fell and 921 advanced, while 129 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.

The CBOE Volatility Index , which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was up 3.73% to 10.28 a new 1-month high.

In commodities trading, Gold Futures for December delivery was down 1.13% or 14.67 to $1288.33 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in November rose 0.35% or 0.18 to hit $52.05 a barrel, while the December Brent oil contract rose 0.66% or 0.38 to trade at $58.20 a barrel.

EUR/USD was down 0.24% to 1.1768, while USD/JPY rose 0.01% to 112.20.

The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.24% at 93.36.