Investing.com – U.S. equities were higher at the close on Friday, as gains in the Telecoms, Utilities and Technology sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.17% to hit a new all time high, while the S&P 500 index added 0.39%, and the NASDAQ Composite index gained 0.34%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Visa Inc Class A (NYSE:V), which rose 1.87% or 3.75 points to trade at 204.70 at the close. Dow Inc (NYSE:DOW) added 1.64% or 0.86 points to end at 53.34 and The Travelers Companies Inc (NYSE:TRV) was up 1.35% or 1.88 points to 140.73 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Boeing Co (NYSE:BA), which lost 2.36% or 7.85 points to trade at 324.15 in late trade. Chevron Corp (NYSE:CVX) declined 1.12% or 1.31 points to end at 115.58 and Walmart Inc (NYSE:WMT) shed 0.81% or 0.94 points to 114.96.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Qualcomm Incorporated (NASDAQ:QCOM) which rose 4.49% to 95.91, CenturyLink Inc (NYSE:CTL) which was up 3.69% to settle at 14.06 and Citizens Financial Group Inc (NYSE:CFG) which gained 3.23% to close at 40.87.
The worst performers were Nektar Therapeutics (NASDAQ:NKTR) which was down 5.94% to 22.48 in late trade, Expeditors International of Washington Inc (NASDAQ:EXPD) which lost 5.56% to settle at 76.82 and NetApp Inc (NASDAQ:NTAP) which was down 4.53% to 62.42 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were EVINE Live Inc (NASDAQ:IMBI) which rose 42.22% to 4.480, Titan Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:TTNP) which was up 33.60% to settle at 0.3340 and Seneca Biopharma Inc (NASDAQ:SNCA) which gained 28.00% to close at 1.6000.
The worst performers were MGP Ingredients Inc (NASDAQ:MGPI) which was down 27.66% to 38.18 in late trade, Iterum Therapeutics PLC (NASDAQ:ITRM) which lost 26.01% to settle at 3.30 and Aethlon Medical Inc (NASDAQ:AEMD) which was down 25.36% to 2.060 at the close.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 1424 to 1367 and 110 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1557 fell and 1076 advanced, while 88 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 1.79% to 12.10 a new 1-month low.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for February delivery was up 0.44% or 6.85 to $1557.35 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in February rose 0.44% or 0.26 to hit $58.78 a barrel, while the March Brent oil contract rose 0.74% or 0.48 to trade at $65.10 a barrel.
EUR/USD was down 0.40% to 1.1091, while USD/JPY rose 0.00% to 110.14.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.34% at 97.393.