Investing.com – U.S. equities were higher at the close on Friday, as gains in the Telecoms, Technology and Consumer Services sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.54%, while the S&P 500 index gained 0.50%, and the NASDAQ Composite index added 0.76%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC), which rose 1.67% or 0.89 points to trade at 54.33 at the close. Boeing Co (NYSE:BA) added 1.52% or 5.69 points to end at 378.99 and Pfizer Inc (NYSE:PFE) was up 1.43% or 0.59 points to 41.78 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO), which lost 0.88% or 0.40 points to trade at 45.30 in late trade. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) declined 0.74% or 1.87 points to end at 251.40 and Caterpillar Inc (NYSE:CAT) shed 0.76% or 1.02 points to 132.67.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Ulta Beauty Inc (NASDAQ:ULTA) which rose 8.29% to 338.41, Broadcom Inc (NASDAQ:AVGO) which was up 8.24% to settle at 290.29 and Applied Materials Inc (NASDAQ:AMAT) which gained 3.75% to close at 40.39.
The worst performers were Whirlpool Corporation (NYSE:WHR) which was down 4.92% to 133.18 in late trade, Chesapeake Energy Corporation (NYSE:CHK) which lost 4.19% to settle at 2.970 and WestRock Co (NYSE:WRK) which was down 4.11% to 37.55 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Soleno Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:SLNO) which rose 98.52% to 2.680, Celsius Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:CELH) which was up 28.31% to settle at 4.8500 and Tenax Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:TENX) which gained 28.22% to close at 2.090.
The worst performers were Atossa Genetics Inc (NASDAQ:ATOS) which was down 50.35% to 3.5100 in late trade, PHI Inc (NASDAQ:PHII) which lost 31.09% to settle at 2.77 and Akari Therapeutics PLC (NASDAQ:AKTX) which was down 29.66% to 4.080 at the close.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 1736 to 1244 and 108 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1525 rose and 1116 declined, while 84 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 4.59% to 12.88 a new 3-month low.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for April delivery was up 0.51% or 6.65 to $1301.75 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in April fell 0.34% or 0.20 to hit $58.41 a barrel, while the May Brent oil contract fell 0.30% or 0.20 to trade at $67.03 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.18% to 1.1322, while USD/JPY fell 0.17% to 111.50.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.20% at 96.575.