Investing.com – U.S. equities were higher at the close on Friday, as gains in the Technology, Industrials and Consumer Services sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.44%, while the S&P 500 index climbed 0.64%, and the NASDAQ Composite index gained 1.04%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE:MCD), which rose 2.08% or 3.18 points to trade at 156.27 at the close. Nike Inc (NYSE:NKE) added 1.43% or 0.81 points to end at 57.98 and Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) was up 1.30% or 0.89 points to 69.46 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE:GS), which lost 0.62% or 1.41 points to trade at 225.28 in late trade. General Electric Company (NYSE:GE) declined 0.61% or 0.16 points to end at 26.15 and Chevron Corporation (NYSE:CVX) shed 0.32% or 0.33 points to 103.49.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were DR Horton Inc (NYSE:DHI) which rose 3.77% to 35.79, Applied Materials Inc (NASDAQ:AMAT) which was up 3.40% to settle at 43.54 and Lennar Corporation (NYSE:LEN) which gained 3.10% to close at 53.48.
The worst performers were Frontier Communications Corporation (NASDAQ:FTR) which was down 3.64% to 1.06 in late trade, L Brands Inc (NYSE:LB) which lost 2.97% to settle at 45.11 and Chesapeake Energy Corporation (NYSE:CHK) which was down 2.58% to 4.540 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Zion Oil & Gas Inc (NASDAQ:ZN) which rose 39.01% to 5.880, Avinger Inc (NASDAQ:AVGR) which was up 30.61% to settle at 0.64 and Digital Ally Inc (NASDAQ:DGLY) which gained 33.33% to close at 4.200.
The worst performers were Cerecor Inc (NASDAQ:CERC) which was down 41.19% to 0.835 in late trade, Cherokee Inc (NASDAQ:CHKE) which lost 36.13% to settle at 4.95 and Precipio Inc (NASDAQ:PRPO) which was down 29.77% to 11.0966 at the close.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 2100 to 990 and 146 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1803 rose and 696 declined, while 130 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 10.85% to 11.18.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for August delivery was down 0.93% or 11.36 to $1211.94 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in August fell 2.66% or 1.21 to hit $44.31 a barrel, while the September Brent oil contract fell 2.72% or 1.31 to trade at $46.80 a barrel.
EUR/USD was down 0.16% to 1.1405, while USD/JPY rose 0.62% to 113.92.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.20% at 95.77.