Investing.com – U.S. equities were higher at the close on Friday, as gains in the Telecoms, Consumer Services and Healthcare sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.07%, while the S&P 500 index climbed 0.09%, and the NASDAQ Composite index gained 0.11%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG), which rose 3.46% or 5.22 points to trade at 156.07 at the close. Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS) added 1.53% or 1.50 points to end at 99.57 and Merck & Company Inc (NYSE:MRK) was up 1.05% or 1.20 points to 115.37 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC), which lost 1.81% or 0.56 points to trade at 30.30 in late trade. Dow Inc (NYSE:DOW) declined 1.49% or 0.83 points to end at 54.87 and Boeing Co (NYSE:BA) shed 1.00% or 2.08 points to 205.15.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Baxter International Inc (NYSE:BAX) which rose 4.72% to 45.29, HCA Holdings Inc (NYSE:HCA) which was up 3.85% to settle at 281.21 and DaVita HealthCare Partners Inc (NYSE:DVA) which gained 3.49% to close at 86.02.
The worst performers were Albemarle Corp (NYSE:ALB) which was down 10.00% to 173.75 in late trade, W. R. Berkley Corp (NYSE:WRB) which lost 9.22% to settle at 57.52 and SVB Financial Group (OTC:SIVBQ) which was down 7.75% to 0.71 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Appreciate Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:SFR) which rose 228.44% to 1.50, Mangoceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:MGRX) which was up 58.36% to settle at 1.48 and Eyepoint Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:EYPT) which gained 58.45% to close at 9.00.
The worst performers were Predictive Oncology Inc (NASDAQ:POAI) which was down 32.43% to 0.19 in late trade, Cns Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:CNSP) which lost 27.86% to settle at 1.89 and Sidus Space Inc (NASDAQ:SIDU) which was down 25.35% to 0.28 at the close.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 1636 to 1319 and 113 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1836 fell and 1720 advanced, while 179 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 2.33% to 16.77.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for June delivery was down 1.26% or 25.50 to $1,993.60 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in June rose 0.53% or 0.41 to hit $77.78 a barrel, while the June Brent oil contract rose 0.60% or 0.49 to trade at $81.59 a barrel.
EUR/USD was unchanged 0.21% to 1.10, while USD/JPY fell 0.10% to 134.10.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.12% at 101.44.