Investing.com – U.S. stocks were mixed after the close on Tuesday, as gains in the Telecoms, Utilities and Oil & Gas sectors led shares higher while losses in the Consumer Services, Consumer Goods and Technology sectors led shares lower.
At the close in New York, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.40%, while the S&P 500 index climbed 0.28%, and the NASDAQ Composite index declined 0.10%.
The best performers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Merck & Company Inc (NYSE:MRK), which rose 5.04% or 2.88 points to trade at 59.98 at the close. Meanwhile, Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) added 2.33% or 1.12 points to end at 49.15 and International Business Machines (NYSE:IBM) was up 1.87% or 3.19 points to 173.92 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL), which fell 1.58% or 2.09 points to trade at 130.56 at the close. Nike Inc (NYSE:NKE) declined 1.07% or 1.08 points to end at 99.86 and Home Depot Inc (NYSE:HD) was down 0.73% or 0.81 points to 110.58.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Merck & Company Inc (NYSE:MRK) which rose 5.04% to 59.98, Freeport-McMoran Copper & Gold Inc (NYSE:FCX) which was up 3.94% to settle at 22.68 and United Parcel Service Inc (NYSE:UPS) which gained 3.43% to close at 100.77.
The worst performers were Whirlpool Corporation (NYSE:WHR) which was down 7.14% to 183.70 in late trade, Coach Inc (NYSE:COH) which lost 6.33% to settle at 39.65 and Jacobs Engineering Group Inc (NYSE:JEC) which was down 5.70% to 44.00 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Xg Technolo (NASDAQ:XGTI) which rose 47.11% to 0.331, Netlist Inc (NASDAQ:NLST) which was up 24.77% to settle at 0.630 and NeuroMetrix Inc (NASDAQ:NURO) which gained 19.66% to close at 1.460.
The worst performers were Uni-Pixel Inc (NASDAQ:UNXL) which was down 36.19% to 3.72 in late trade, MDC Partners Inc (NASDAQ:MDCA) which lost 27.81% to settle at 20.20 and Dex Media Inc (NASDAQ:DXM) which was down 19.44% to 2.61 at the close.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the New York Stock Exchange by 2013 to 1128 and 1 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1705 rose and 1078 declined, while 4 ended unchanged.
Shares in Uni-Pixel Inc (NASDAQ:UNXL) fell to 3-years lows; falling 36.19% or 2.11 to 3.72. Shares in Dex Media Inc (NASDAQ:DXM) fell to all time lows; down 19.44% or 0.63 to 2.61.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 5.34% to 12.42.
Gold for June delivery was up 0.70% or 8.40 to $1211.60 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in June rose 0.06% or 0.04 to hit $57.02 a barrel, while the June Brent oil contract fell 0.25% or 0.17 to trade at $64.67 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.80% to 1.0978, while USD/JPY fell 0.16% to 118.86.
The US Dollar Index was down 0.73% at 96.19.