Investing.com – U.S. equities were higher at the close on Friday, as gains in the Healthcare, Financials and Industrials sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.69% to hit a new 1-month high, while the S&P 500 index climbed 0.44%, and the NASDAQ Composite index climbed 0.43%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE:GS), which rose 3.07% or 4.69 points to trade at 157.60 at the close. JPMorgan Chase & Co (NYSE:JPM) added 2.94% or 1.73 points to end at 60.48 and Boeing Company (NYSE:BA) was up 2.49% or 3.26 points to 133.96 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT), which lost 2.14% or 1.17 points to trade at 53.49 in late trade. Wal-Mart Stores Inc (NYSE:WMT) declined 0.74% or 0.50 points to end at 66.95 and Verizon Communications Inc (NYSE:VZ) shed 0.73% or 0.39 points to 53.24.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) which rose 6.57% to 49.02, Tenet Healthcare Corporation (NYSE:THC) which was up 5.91% to settle at 28.14 and Wynn Resorts Limited (NASDAQ:WYNN) which gained 5.88% to close at 94.02.
The worst performers were Transocean Ltd (NYSE:RIG) which was down 7.94% to 10.78 in late trade, National Oilwell Varco Inc (NYSE:NOV) which lost 4.15% to settle at 32.58 and Helmerich & Payne Inc (NYSE:HP) which was down 3.64% to 60.83 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were GenVec Inc (NASDAQ:GNVC) which rose 36.99% to 1.0000, China HGS Real Estate Inc (NASDAQ:HGSH) which was up 29.14% to settle at 1.989 and Forbes Energy Services Ltd (NASDAQ:FES) which gained 28.01% to close at 0.5000.
The worst performers were Heat Biolog (NASDAQ:HTBX) which was down 63.68% to 0.69 in late trade, PrimeEnergy Corporation (NASDAQ:PNRG) which gained 2.34% to settle at 34.50 and Cymabay Therapeu (NASDAQ:CBAY) which was down 23.53% to 1.30 at the close.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 2004 to 1361 and 24 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1668 rose and 927 declined, while 62 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 3.19% to 13.98 a new 6-month low.
In commodities trading, Gold for April delivery was down 0.70% or 8.90 to $1256.10 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in April unchanged 0.00% or 0.00 to hit $40.20 a barrel, while the May Brent oil contract fell 0.14% or 0.06 to trade at $41.48 a barrel.
EUR/USD was down 0.38% to 1.1273, while USD/JPY rose 0.21% to 111.62.
The US Dollar Index was up 0.33% at 95.08.