Investing.com – U.S. equities were higher at the close on Friday, as gains in the Technology, Consumer Services and Utilities sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.14%, while the S&P 500 index added 0.81%, and the NASDAQ Composite index climbed 2.20%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC), which rose 7.38% or 3.05 points to trade at 44.40 at the close. Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) added 6.41% or 5.05 points to end at 83.81 and Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) was up 3.58% or 5.64 points to 163.05 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Merck & Company Inc (NYSE:MRK), which lost 6.05% or 3.75 points to trade at 58.24 in late trade. Chevron Corporation (NYSE:CVX) declined 4.14% or 4.90 points to end at 113.54 and General Electric Company (NYSE:GE) shed 2.49% or 0.53 points to 20.79.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Align Technology Inc (NASDAQ:ALGN) which rose 16.24% to 235.94, Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN) which was up 13.22% to settle at 1100.95 and Cabot Oil & Gas Corporation (NYSE:COG) which gained 8.52% to close at 26.75.
The worst performers were Expedia Inc (NASDAQ:EXPE) which was down 15.99% to 123.79 in late trade, Mattel Inc (NASDAQ:MAT) which lost 8.91% to settle at 14.00 and Cerner Corporation (NASDAQ:CERN) which was down 8.43% to 65.31 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were The Bon-Ton Stores Inc (NASDAQ:BONT) which rose 32.91% to 0.970, Shineco Inc (NASDAQ:TYHT) which was up 30.94% to settle at 3.64 and Data I/O Corporation (NASDAQ:DAIO) which gained 26.11% to close at 11.980.
The worst performers were TDH Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:PETZ) which was down 44.05% to 15.70 in late trade, PhaseRx Inc (NASDAQ:PZRX) which lost 35.35% to settle at 0.63 and Electronics for Imaging Inc (NASDAQ:EFII) which was down 29.39% to 29.75 at the close.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 1920 to 1165 and 131 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1567 rose and 961 declined, while 128 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 13.01% to 9.83.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for December delivery was up 0.42% or 5.35 to $1274.95 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in December rose 2.55% or 1.34 to hit $53.98 a barrel, while the December Brent oil contract rose 1.87% or 1.11 to trade at $60.41 a barrel.
EUR/USD was down 0.40% to 1.1605, while USD/JPY fell 0.26% to 113.67.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.21% at 94.75.