Investing.com – U.S. equities were higher at the close on Friday, as gains in the Telecoms, Financials and Consumer Services sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.07%, while the S&P 500 index added 0.18%, and the NASDAQ Composite index gained 0.09%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc (NASDAQ:WBA), which rose 3.09% or 0.75 points to trade at 25.01 at the close. Verizon Communications Inc (NYSE:VZ) added 2.08% or 0.82 points to end at 40.19 and Boeing Co (NYSE:BA) was up 1.65% or 4.05 points to 248.99 in late trade.
Biggest losers included UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH), which lost 1.49% or 8.13 points to trade at 537.29 in late trade. International Business Machines (NYSE:IBM) declined 1.07% or 1.72 points to end at 159.14 and McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE:MCD) shed 0.93% or 2.70 points to 289.04.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Catalent Inc (NYSE:CTLT) which rose 5.25% to 45.73, Southwest Airlines Company (NYSE:LUV) which was up 4.33% to settle at 29.14 and American Airlines Group (NASDAQ:AAL) which gained 3.90% to close at 13.60.
The worst performers were MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI) which was down 3.91% to 537.86 in late trade, Enphase Energy Inc (NASDAQ:ENPH) which lost 2.27% to settle at 115.39 and Incyte Corporation (NASDAQ:INCY) which was down 2.00% to 65.26 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Revelstone Capital Acquisition Corp (NASDAQ:RCAC) which rose 91.15% to 10.80, Zoomcar Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:ZCAR) which was up 64.45% to settle at 4.21 and Ainos Inc (NASDAQ:AIMD) which gained 58.38% to close at 2.74.
The worst performers were Dogness International Corp Class A (NASDAQ:DOGZ) which was down 51.87% to 4.38 in late trade, Avenue Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:ATXI) which lost 44.64% to settle at 0.19 and Applied Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:APLT) which was down 40.63% to 2.25 at the close.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 1528 to 1327 and 85 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1967 fell and 1425 advanced, while 140 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 5.52% to 13.35.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for February delivery was up 0.08% or 1.70 to $2,051.70 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in February rose 2.41% or 1.74 to hit $73.93 a barrel, while the March Brent oil contract rose 1.61% or 1.25 to trade at $78.84 a barrel.
EUR/USD was unchanged 0.04% to 1.09, while USD/JPY rose 0.09% to 144.74.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.04% at 102.18.