Investing.com – U.S. equities were higher at the close on Friday, as gains in the Consumer Services, Oil & Gas and Industrials sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.89% to hit a new all time high, while the S&P 500 index gained 0.68%, and the NASDAQ Composite index added 0.68%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Boeing Co (NYSE:BA), which rose 2.47% or 8.09 points to trade at 336.21 at the close. Cisco Systems Inc (NASDAQ:CSCO) added 1.92% or 0.77 points to end at 40.87 and Merck & Company Inc (NYSE:MRK) was up 1.84% or 1.06 points to 58.66 in late trade.
Biggest losers included General Electric Company (NYSE:GE), which lost 1.37% or 0.26 points to trade at 18.76 in late trade. International Business Machines (NYSE:IBM) declined 0.65% or 1.06 points to end at 163.14 and Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) shed 0.60% or 0.54 points to 89.61.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Viacom B Inc (NASDAQ:VIAB) which rose 9.57% to 33.76, Lowe’s Companies Inc (NYSE:LOW) which was up 5.35% to settle at 100.86 and Seagate Technology PLC (NASDAQ:STX) which gained 4.60% to close at 51.26.
The worst performers were Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) which was down 7.36% to 84.94 in late trade, American Water Works (NYSE:AWK) which lost 4.61% to settle at 80.83 and Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) which was down 4.47% to 179.37 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were SPAR Group Inc (NASDAQ:SGRP) which rose 59.68% to 1.980, My Size Inc (NASDAQ:MYSZ) which was up 43.62% to settle at 2.14 and Turtle Beach Corp (NASDAQ:HEAR) which gained 41.16% to close at 0.620.
The worst performers were AquaBounty Technologies Inc (NASDAQ:AQB) which was down 37.73% to 3.020 in late trade, Aradigm Cor (NASDAQ:ARDM) which lost 33.92% to settle at 2.260 and Xunlei Ltd Adr (NASDAQ:XNET) which was down 27.38% to 16.63 at the close.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 1671 to 1415 and 119 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1459 rose and 1049 declined, while 129 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was up 2.73% to 10.15.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for February delivery was up 1.26% or 16.70 to $1339.20 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in February rose 0.97% or 0.62 to hit $64.42 a barrel, while the March Brent oil contract rose 0.82% or 0.57 to trade at $69.83 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 1.37% to 1.2197, while USD/JPY fell 0.22% to 111.02.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 1.11% at 90.64.