Investing.com – U.S. equities were mixed at the close on Friday, as gains in the Consumer Services, Technology and Consumer Goods sectors propelled shares higher while losses in the Telecoms, Healthcare and Oil & Gas sectors led shares lower.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.09%, while the S&P 500 index fell 0.01%, and the NASDAQ Composite index gained 0.30%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT), which rose 4.21% or 2.41 points to trade at 59.66 at the close. McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE:MCD) added 3.04% or 3.36 points to end at 113.93 and Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS) was up 1.09% or 1.00 points to 93.03 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Verizon Communications Inc (NYSE:VZ), which lost 1.93% or 0.95 points to trade at 48.19 in late trade. International Business Machines (NYSE:IBM) declined 1.24% or 1.88 points to end at 149.64 and Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) shed 1.22% or 1.40 points to 113.47.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Reynolds American Inc (NYSE:RAI) which rose 14.01% to 53.78, PayPal Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:PYPL) which was up 10.13% to settle at 44.15 and Time Warner Inc (NYSE:TWX) which gained 7.80% to close at 89.46.
The worst performers were Southwestern Energy Company (NYSE:SWN) which was down 8.42% to 11.59 in late trade, Moodys Corporation (NYSE:MCO) which lost 5.42% to settle at 102.23 and Cerner Corporation (NASDAQ:CERN) which was down 4.16% to 58.46 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Helios and Matheson Analytics Inc (NASDAQ:HMNY) which rose 78.38% to 9.900, Wilhelmina (NASDAQ:WHLM) which was up 40.64% to settle at 12.25 and Alkermes Plc (NASDAQ:ALKS) which gained 27.83% to close at 55.62.
The worst performers were First NBC Bank Holding Company (NASDAQ:FNBC) which was down 19.34% to 7.30 in late trade, Moleculin Biotech Inc (NASDAQ:MBRX) which lost 18.48% to settle at 3.53 and Apricus Biosciences Inc (NASDAQ:APRI) which was down 17.91% to 0.269 at the close.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 1611 to 1503 and 114 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1267 fell and 1144 advanced, while 170 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 2.69% to 13.38.
In commodities trading, Gold for December delivery was up 0.00% or 0.05 to $1267.55 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in December rose 0.59% or 0.30 to hit $50.93 a barrel, while the December Brent oil contract rose 0.84% or 0.43 to trade at $51.81 a barrel.
EUR/USD was down 0.36% to 1.0889, while USD/JPY fell 0.12% to 103.82.
The US Dollar Index was up 0.32% at 98.60.