Investing.com – U.S. equities were lower at the close on Friday, as losses in the Technology, Telecoms and Consumer Goods sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.37%, while the S&P 500 index fell 0.48%, and the NASDAQ Composite index lost 0.82%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Merck & Company Inc (NYSE:MRK), which rose 0.99% or 1.25 points to trade at 127.79 at the close. Walmart Inc (NYSE:WMT) added 0.63% or 1.07 points to end at 170.36 and Dow Inc (NYSE:DOW) was up 0.56% or 0.31 points to 55.48 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Nike Inc (NYSE:NKE), which lost 2.40% or 2.54 points to trade at 103.51 in late trade. Amgen Inc (NASDAQ:AMGN) declined 1.86% or 5.37 points to end at 283.70 and Cisco Systems Inc (NASDAQ:CSCO) shed 1.26% or 0.62 points to 48.44.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Applied Materials Inc (NASDAQ:AMAT) which rose 6.35% to 199.57, Vulcan Materials Company (NYSE:VMC) which was up 5.23% to settle at 255.15 and Dollar General Corporation (NYSE:DG) which gained 4.78% to close at 141.50.
The worst performers were Digital Realty Trust Inc (NYSE:DLR) which was down 8.34% to 136.22 in late trade, Adobe Systems Incorporated (NASDAQ:ADBE) which lost 7.41% to settle at 546.66 and Paramount Global Class B (NASDAQ:PARA) which was down 4.69% to 12.00 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were GaxosAI Inc (NASDAQ:GXAI) which rose 172.90% to 0.71, MicroCloud Hologram Inc (NASDAQ:HOLO) which was up 114.06% to settle at 66.36 and Pop Culture Group Co Ltd (NASDAQ:CPOP) which gained 99.25% to close at 2.65.
The worst performers were China Natural Resources Inc (NASDAQ:CHNR) which was down 48.99% to 1.77 in late trade, Trupanion Inc (NASDAQ:TRUP) which lost 35.15% to settle at 22.88 and Roku Inc (NASDAQ:ROKU) which was down 23.81% to 72.00 at the close.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 1888 to 970 and 81 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 2135 fell and 1272 advanced, while 130 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was up 1.64% to 14.24.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for April delivery was up 0.50% or 10.05 to $2,024.95 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in March rose 1.64% or 1.28 to hit $79.31 a barrel, while the April Brent oil contract rose 0.52% or 0.43 to trade at $83.29 a barrel.
EUR/USD was unchanged 0.06% to 1.08, while USD/JPY rose 0.19% to 150.19.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.01% at 104.19.