Investing.com – U.S. equities were higher at the close on Friday, as gains in the Financials, Healthcare and Consumer Services sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 2.15%, while the S&P 500 index added 1.92%, and the NASDAQ Composite index added 1.79%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH), which rose 5.44% or 27.32 points to trade at 529.75 at the close. JPMorgan Chase & Co (NYSE:JPM) added 4.58% or 4.95 points to end at 112.95 and American Express Company (NYSE:AXP) was up 4.40% or 6.00 points to 142.48 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG), which lost 0.14% or 0.20 points to trade at 145.07 in late trade. The Travelers Companies Inc (NYSE:TRV) added 0.32% or 0.50 points to end at 156.18 and Boeing Co (NYSE:BA) gained 0.40% or 0.59 points to 147.74.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Citigroup Inc (NYSE:C) which rose 13.23% to 49.98, State Street Corp (NYSE:STT) which was up 9.74% to settle at 65.67 and Netflix Inc (NASDAQ:NFLX) which gained 8.20% to close at 189.11.
The worst performers were Constellation Brands Inc Class A (NYSE:STZ) which was down 2.56% to 244.54 in late trade, Kraft Heinz Co (NASDAQ:KHC) which lost 1.94% to settle at 38.01 and Nextera Energy Inc (NYSE:NEE) which was down 1.77% to 78.71 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were United Maritime Corp (NASDAQ:USEA) which rose 175.91% to 6.07, ITHAX Acquisition Corp (NASDAQ:ITHX) which was up 40.60% to settle at 13.99 and Nymox Pharmaceutical Corp (NASDAQ:NYMX) which gained 38.89% to close at 0.30.
The worst performers were Codexis Inc (NASDAQ:CDXS) which was down 44.74% to 6.67 in late trade, Capstone Green Energy Corp (NASDAQ:CGRN) which lost 33.54% to settle at 1.60 and Bimi International Medical Inc (NASDAQ:BIMI) which was down 28.94% to 0.44 at the close.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 2546 to 585 and 133 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 2630 rose and 1093 declined, while 230 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 8.22% to 24.23 a new 1-month low.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for August delivery was down 0.11% or 1.85 to $1,703.95 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in August rose 1.97% or 1.89 to hit $97.67 a barrel, while the September Brent oil contract rose 2.04% or 2.02 to trade at $101.12 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.67% to 1.01, while USD/JPY fell 0.26% to 138.54.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.49% at 107.88.