Investing.com – U.S. equities were higher at the close on Friday, as gains in the Technology, Consumer Services and Consumer Goods sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.04%, while the S&P 500 index climbed 0.19%, and the NASDAQ Composite index added 0.35%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were American Express Company (NYSE:AXP), which rose 1.42% or 2.31 points to trade at 164.54 at the close. Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE:GS) added 1.09% or 4.08 points to end at 378.02 and McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE:MCD) was up 1.01% or 2.37 points to 236.96 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Caterpillar Inc (NYSE:CAT), which lost 2.24% or 5.06 points to trade at 220.67 in late trade. Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) declined 1.26% or 2.10 points to end at 164.98 and UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) shed 0.90% or 3.63 points to 397.86.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Capri Holdings Ltd (NYSE:CPRI) which rose 5.01% to 55.93, VF Corporation (NYSE:VFC) which was up 4.54% to settle at 82.12 and Coty Inc (NYSE:COTY) which gained 4.15% to close at 9.03.
The worst performers were Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:VRTX) which was down 10.93% to 193.07 in late trade, Incyte Corporation (NASDAQ:INCY) which lost 5.64% to settle at 82.59 and Biogen Inc (NASDAQ:BIIB) which was down 4.44% to 396.30 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Novan Inc (NASDAQ:NOVN) which rose 62.61% to 14.7000, Baosheng Media Group Holdings Ltd (NASDAQ:BAOS) which was up 41.77% to settle at 4.48 and Urban One (NASDAQ:UONE) which gained 32.88% to close at 20.530.
The worst performers were Orphazyme (NASDAQ:ORPH) which was down 55.24% to 9.40 in late trade, Recon Technology Ltd (NASDAQ:RCON) which lost 51.10% to settle at 6.230 and Curis Inc (NASDAQ:CRIS) which was down 36.87% to 8.005 at the close.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 1986 to 1175 and 146 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 2102 rose and 1364 declined, while 144 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 2.80% to 15.65 a new 52-week low.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for August delivery was down 0.98% or 18.65 to $1877.75 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in July rose 0.74% or 0.52 to hit $70.81 a barrel, while the August Brent oil contract rose 0.11% or 0.08 to trade at $72.60 a barrel.
EUR/USD was down 0.51% to 1.2107, while USD/JPY rose 0.33% to 109.67.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.49% at 90.515.