Investing.com – U.S. equities were higher at the close on Friday, as gains in the Basic Materials, Industrials and Utilities sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.43% to hit a new 3-month high, while the S&P 500 index climbed 0.33%, and the NASDAQ Composite index gained 0.13%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Caterpillar Inc (NYSE:CAT), which rose 2.25% or 3.06 points to trade at 139.32 at the close. Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) added 2.00% or 4.26 points to end at 217.58 and Pfizer Inc (NYSE:PFE) was up 1.59% or 0.66 points to 42.08 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Walmart Inc (NYSE:WMT), which lost 0.80% or 0.79 points to trade at 97.85 in late trade. Nike Inc (NYSE:NKE) declined 0.39% or 0.31 points to end at 79.74 and McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE:MCD) shed 0.35% or 0.57 points to 161.16.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Nordstrom Inc (NYSE:JWN) which rose 13.27% to 59.22, Coty Inc (NYSE:COTY) which was up 6.45% to settle at 12.22 and Perrigo Co (NYSE:PRGO) which gained 3.64% to close at 72.96.
The worst performers were Applied Materials Inc (NASDAQ:AMAT) which was down 7.72% to 43.77 in late trade, NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) which lost 4.90% to settle at 244.82 and Gilead Sciences Inc (NASDAQ:GILD) which was down 3.53% to 72.92 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Izea Inc (NASDAQ:IZEA) which rose 33.33% to 1.4600, Sigma Designs Inc (NASDAQ:SIGM) which was up 24.24% to settle at 0.25 and Bellerophon Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:BLPH) which gained 22.81% to close at 0.798.
The worst performers were Zion Oil & Gas Inc (NASDAQ:ZN) which was down 27.13% to 1.840 in late trade, Boxlight Corp Class A (NASDAQ:BOXL) which lost 18.78% to settle at 3.98 and US Energy Corp (NASDAQ:USEG) which was down 15.69% to 0.8600 at the close.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 2109 to 956 and 46 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1375 rose and 1177 declined, while 147 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 6.17% to 12.62.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for December delivery was up 0.63% or 7.50 to $1191.50 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in September rose 0.67% or 0.44 to hit $65.90 a barrel, while the October Brent oil contract rose 0.48% or 0.34 to trade at $71.77 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.55% to 1.1441, while USD/JPY fell 0.29% to 110.59.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.50% at 96.00.