U.S. stocks higher at close of trade; Dow Jones Industrial Average up 0.30%

Investing.com – U.S. stocks were higher after the close on Tuesday, as gains in the Oil&Gas, Technology and Basic Materials sectors led shares higher.

At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.30%, while the S&P 500 index added 0.73%, and the NASDAQ Composite index gained 1.01%.

The best performers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Chevron Corp (NYSE:CVX), which rose 2.23% or 3.78 points to trade at 173.53 at the close. Meanwhile, Salesforce Inc (NYSE:CRM) added 1.91% or 2.54 points to end at 135.65 and Merck&Company Inc (NYSE:MRK) was up 1.78% or 1.94 points to 110.91 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were Amgen Inc (NASDAQ:AMGN), which fell 1.63% or 4.52 points to trade at 272.26 at the close. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) declined 1.28% or 7.01 points to end at 538.85 and McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE:MCD) was down 0.85% or 2.34 points to 274.28.

The top performers on the S&P 500 were Moderna Inc (NASDAQ:MRNA) which rose 19.63% to 197.54, Halliburton Company (NYSE:HAL) which was up 7.89% to settle at 37.01 and Match Group Inc (NASDAQ:MTCH) which gained 7.67% to close at 46.89.

The worst performers were United Airlines Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:UAL) which was down 6.94% to 41.17 in late trade, Trimble Inc (NASDAQ:TRMB) which lost 6.38% to settle at 55.03 and American Airlines Group (NASDAQ:AAL) which was down 5.21% to 13.46 at the close.

The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were OpGen Inc (NASDAQ:OPGN) which rose 84.80% to 0.23, Vincerx Pharma Inc (NASDAQ:VINC) which was up 60.93% to settle at 1.08 and Netcapital Inc (NASDAQ:NCPL) which gained 58.84% to close at 2.20.

The worst performers were Quotient Ltd (NASDAQ:QTNT) which was down 50.01% to 0.34 in late trade, Argo Blockchain PLC ADR (NASDAQ:ARBK) which lost 37.21% to settle at 0.43 and Harpoon Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:HARP) which was down 36.87% to 0.89 at the close.

Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the New York Stock Exchange by 2164 to 931 and 112 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 2099 rose and 1650 declined, while 171 ended unchanged.

Shares in Merck&Company Inc (NYSE:MRK) rose to all time highs; rising 1.78% or 1.94 to 110.91. Shares in Quotient Ltd (NASDAQ:QTNT) fell to all time lows; losing 50.01% or 0.34 to 0.34. Shares in Argo Blockchain PLC ADR (NASDAQ:ARBK) fell to all time lows; falling 37.21% or 0.26 to 0.43.

The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 9.80% to 22.55.

Gold Futures for February delivery was up 1.65% or 29.60 to $1,821.90 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in January rose 2.99% or 2.19 to hit $75.36 a barrel, while the February Brent oil contract rose 3.35% or 2.61 to trade at $80.60 a barrel.

EUR/USD was up 0.88% to 1.06, while USD/JPY fell 1.48% to 135.63.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 1.09% at 103.62.