Investing.com – U.S. equities were higher at the close on Friday, as gains in the Technology, Consumer Goods and Oil & Gas sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.52%, while the S&P 500 index climbed 0.88%, and the NASDAQ Composite index added 1.47%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Salesforce.com Inc (NYSE:CRM), which rose 2.88% or 6.64 points to trade at 237.48 at the close. Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) added 2.04% or 5.02 points to end at 250.73 and Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) was up 2.01% or 1.13 points to 57.37 in late trade.
Biggest losers included The Travelers Companies Inc (NYSE:TRV), which lost 0.63% or 1.02 points to trade at 159.98 in late trade. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) declined 0.55% or 2.25 points to end at 405.71 and Dow Inc (NYSE:DOW) shed 0.35% or 0.25 points to 70.36.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Biogen Inc (NASDAQ:BIIB) which rose 4.96% to 286.06, Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) which was up 4.61% to settle at 599.23 and IPG Photonics Corporation (NASDAQ:IPGP) which gained 3.99% to close at 209.00.
The worst performers were Nektar Therapeutics (NASDAQ:NKTR) which was down 4.14% to 17.13 in late trade, Alliance Data Systems Corp (NYSE:ADS) which lost 3.90% to settle at 118.03 and Mosaic Co (NYSE:MOS) which was down 3.61% to 36.04 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were American Superconductor Corporation (NASDAQ:AMSC) which rose 37.38% to 17.53, Windtree Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:WINT) which was up 35.86% to settle at 2.690 and Fuel Tech Inc (NASDAQ:FTEK) which gained 35.81% to close at 2.9200.
The worst performers were US Well Services Inc (NASDAQ:USWS) which was down 25.18% to 1.040 in late trade, Harpoon Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:HARP) which lost 24.26% to settle at 15.86 and EuroDry Ltd (NASDAQ:EDRY) which was down 17.06% to 27.28 at the close.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 1978 to 1183 and 136 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1954 rose and 1405 declined, while 124 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 8.98% to 16.42 a new 1-month low.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for August delivery was up 1.10% or 20.65 to $1893.95 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in July rose 0.84% or 0.58 to hit $69.39 a barrel, while the August Brent oil contract rose 0.43% or 0.31 to trade at $71.62 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.36% to 1.2168, while USD/JPY fell 0.68% to 109.53.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.42% at 90.118.