Investing.com – U.S. equities were mixed at the close on Friday, as gains in the Telecoms, Healthcare and Consumer Services sectors propelled shares higher while losses in the Technology, Oil & Gas and Consumer Goods sectors led shares lower.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.37% to hit a new 1-month high, while the S&P 500 index gained 0.17%, and the NASDAQ Composite index lost 0.03%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Verizon Communications Inc (NYSE:VZ), which rose 3.01% or 1.42 points to trade at 48.62 at the close. Merck & Company Inc (NYSE:MRK) added 2.81% or 1.63 points to end at 59.69 and UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) was up 1.96% or 4.57 points to 238.28 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Cisco Systems Inc (NASDAQ:CSCO), which lost 0.80% or 0.37 points to trade at 45.93 in late trade. General Electric Company (NYSE:GE) declined 0.61% or 0.09 points to end at 14.60 and Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) shed 0.56% or 0.31 points to 54.67.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:REGN) which rose 6.24% to 306.94, Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:VRTX) which was up 3.28% to settle at 155.97 and CVS Health Corp (NYSE:CVS) which gained 3.15% to close at 64.41.
The worst performers were Symantec Corporation (NASDAQ:SYMC) which was down 33.10% to 19.52 in late trade, Flowserve Corporation (NYSE:FLS) which lost 9.09% to settle at 43.53 and News Corp A (NASDAQ:NWSA) which was down 8.50% to 15.18 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Trade Desk Inc (NASDAQ:TTD) which rose 43.39% to 75.61, Turtle Beach Corp (NASDAQ:HEAR) which was up 40.37% to settle at 16.030 and Boxlight Corp Class A (NASDAQ:BOXL) which gained 29.50% to close at 6.67.
The worst performers were Stellar Biotechnologies Inc (NASDAQ:SBOT) which was down 41.24% to 2.280 in late trade, Obalon Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:OBLN) which lost 34.03% to settle at 2.85 and Symantec Corporation (NASDAQ:SYMC) which was down 33.10% to 19.52 at the close.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 1675 to 1370 and 146 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1361 rose and 1182 declined, while 140 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 3.55% to 12.76 a new 3-month low.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for June delivery was down 0.21% or 2.80 to $1319.50 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in June fell 1.09% or 0.78 to hit $70.58 a barrel, while the July Brent oil contract fell 0.57% or 0.44 to trade at $77.03 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.24% to 1.1944, while USD/JPY fell 0.08% to 109.30.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.17% at 92.41.