Investing.com – U.S. equities were higher at the close on Friday, as gains in the Oil & Gas, Industrials and Basic Materials sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.23%, while the S&P 500 index climbed 0.08%, and the NASDAQ Composite index added 0.09%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Nike Inc (NYSE:NKE), which rose 11.13% or 7.98 points to trade at 79.68 at the close. American Express Company (NYSE:AXP) added 1.06% or 1.03 points to end at 98.00 and Exxon Mobil Corp (NYSE:XOM) was up 0.93% or 0.76 points to 82.73 in late trade.
Biggest losers included General Electric Company (NYSE:GE), which lost 1.59% or 0.22 points to trade at 13.61 in late trade. Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE:GS) declined 1.28% or 2.85 points to end at 220.57 and Verizon Communications Inc (NYSE:VZ) shed 1.08% or 0.55 points to 50.31.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:VRTX) which rose 15.16% to 169.96, Nike Inc (NYSE:NKE) which was up 11.13% to settle at 79.68 and Celgene Corporation (NASDAQ:CELG) which gained 3.60% to close at 79.42.
The worst performers were Constellation Brands Inc Class A (NYSE:STZ) which was down 5.79% to 218.87 in late trade, Under Armour Inc A (NYSE:UAA) which lost 3.97% to settle at 22.48 and Under Armour Inc C (NYSE:UA) which was down 3.48% to 21.080 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Echelon Corporation (NASDAQ:ELON) which rose 96.66% to 8.24, Gemphire Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:GEMP) which was up 94.47% to settle at 10.19 and Tintri Inc (NASDAQ:TNTR) which gained 73.73% to close at 0.25.
The worst performers were Gevo Inc (NASDAQ:GEVO) which was down 40.72% to 3.8000 in late trade, China Customer Relations Centers Inc (NASDAQ:CCRC) which lost 33.11% to settle at 22.59 and ZK International Group Co Ltd (NASDAQ:ZKIN) which was down 31.83% to 3.17 at the close.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 1778 to 1281 and 130 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1313 rose and 1259 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 5.16% to 15.98.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for August delivery was up 0.25% or 3.10 to $1254.10 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in August rose 1.24% or 0.91 to hit $74.36 a barrel, while the September Brent oil contract rose 1.97% or 1.53 to trade at $79.14 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 1.00% to 1.1684, while USD/JPY rose 0.13% to 110.63.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.81% at 94.23.