Investing.com – U.S. equities were higher at the close on Friday, as gains in the Technology, Healthcare and Utilities sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.34%, while the S&P 500 index gained 1.60%, and the NASDAQ Composite index gained 2.26%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Boeing Co (NYSE:BA), which rose 6.83% or 9.98 points to trade at 156.03 at the close. Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) added 3.75% or 4.06 points to end at 112.28 and UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) was up 3.36% or 9.84 points to 302.50 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Dow Inc (NYSE:DOW), which lost 0.80% or 0.37 points to trade at 46.04 in late trade. Nike Inc (NYSE:NKE) declined 0.42% or 0.52 points to end at 124.23 and Merck & Company Inc (NYSE:MRK) shed 0.26% or 0.22 points to 82.93.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd (NYSE:NCLH) which rose 13.67% to 16.63, Carnival Corporation (NYSE:CCL) which was up 9.68% to settle at 15.07 and WestRock Co (NYSE:WRK) which gained 8.32% to close at 35.81.
The worst performers were Apache Corporation (NASDAQ:APA) which was down 9.63% to 9.85 in late trade, National Oilwell Varco Inc (NYSE:NOV) which lost 6.31% to settle at 9.51 and TechnipFMC PLC (NYSE:FTI) which was down 4.42% to 6.06 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Urban One Inc Class D (NASDAQ:UONEK) which rose 91.06% to 1.650, CBAK Energy Technology Inc (NASDAQ:CBAT) which was up 81.48% to settle at 2.4500 and Standard AVB Financial Corp (NASDAQ:STND) which gained 72.97% to close at 32.45.
The worst performers were Sunworks Inc (NASDAQ:SUNW) which was down 46.82% to 2.090 in late trade, Peck Company Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:PECK) which lost 34.94% to settle at 5.14 and SPI Energy Co Ltd (NASDAQ:SPI) which was down 23.74% to 9.990 at the close.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 2155 to 893 and 95 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 2139 rose and 714 declined, while 77 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 7.47% to 26.38.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for December delivery was down 0.68% or 12.75 to $1864.15 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in November fell 0.65% or 0.26 to hit $40.05 a barrel, while the November Brent oil contract fell 0.26% or 0.11 to trade at $41.83 a barrel.
EUR/USD was down 0.35% to 1.1631, while USD/JPY rose 0.20% to 105.61.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.25% at 94.627.