Investing.com – U.S. equities were higher at the close on Friday, as gains in the Telecoms, Consumer Goods and Technology sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.02% to hit a new all time high, while the S&P 500 index climbed 0.17%, and the NASDAQ Composite index gained 0.41%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Verizon Communications Inc (NYSE:VZ), which rose 1.51% or 0.73 points to trade at 49.19 at the close. Boeing Co (NYSE:BA) added 1.11% or 1.90 points to end at 172.71 and Home Depot Inc (NYSE:HD) was up 1.03% or 1.46 points to 143.00 in late trade.
Biggest losers included UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH), which lost 3.68% or 6.03 points to trade at 157.62 in late trade. Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE:XOM) declined 0.66% or 0.54 points to end at 81.76 and Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS) shed 0.59% or 0.65 points to 110.06.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Kraft Heinz Co (NASDAQ:KHC) which rose 10.64% to 96.57, VF Corporation (NYSE:VFC) which was up 4.59% to settle at 52.68 and Colgate-Palmolive Company (NYSE:CL) which gained 4.32% to close at 71.98.
The worst performers were Campbell Soup Company (NYSE:CPB) which was down 6.51% to 58.48 in late trade, Flowserve Corporation (NYSE:FLS) which lost 4.80% to settle at 48.37 and General Mills Inc (NYSE:GIS) which was down 3.75% to 59.23 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were MoSys Inc (NASDAQ:MOSY) which rose 54.19% to 3.5000, LMI Aerospace Inc (NASDAQ:LMIA) which was up 48.64% to settle at 13.66 and Atlantic Alliance Partnership Corp (NASDAQ:AAPC) which gained 42.35% to close at 25.62.
The worst performers were X T L Biopharmaceuticals Ltd (NASDAQ:XTLB) which was down 34.92% to 2.330 in late trade, ArQule Inc (NASDAQ:ARQL) which lost 18.37% to settle at 1.200 and Aoxin Tianli Group Inc (NASDAQ:ABAC) which was down 16.92% to 2.7000 at the close.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 1722 to 1495 and 45 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1431 rose and 1050 declined, while 143 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 3.32% to 11.37.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for April delivery was down 0.40% or 4.95 to $1236.65 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in March rose 0.09% or 0.05 to hit $53.41 a barrel, while the April Brent oil contract rose 0.23% or 0.13 to trade at $55.78 a barrel.
EUR/USD was down 0.55% to 1.0615, while USD/JPY fell 0.35% to 112.85.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.42% at 100.87.