Investing.com – U.S. equities were mixed at the close on Friday, as gains in the Oil & Gas, Utilities and Basic Materials sectors propelled shares higher while losses in the Consumer Services, Consumer Goods and Technology sectors led shares lower.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.11%, while the S&P 500 index added 0.03%, and the NASDAQ Composite index fell 0.22%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Chevron Corporation (NYSE:CVX), which rose 1.90% or 2.02 points to trade at 108.35 at the close. Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE:XOM) added 1.50% or 1.23 points to end at 83.49 and Caterpillar Inc (NYSE:CAT) was up 1.13% or 1.20 points to 107.60 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Wal-Mart Stores Inc (NYSE:WMT), which lost 4.65% or 3.67 points to trade at 75.24 in late trade. Nike Inc (NYSE:NKE) declined 3.40% or 1.80 points to end at 51.10 and Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) shed 1.40% or 2.02 points to 142.27.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Whole Foods Market Inc (NASDAQ:WFM) which rose 29.10% to 42.68, Frontier Communications Corporation (NASDAQ:FTR) which was up 6.11% to settle at 1.39 and Murphy Oil Corporation (NYSE:MUR) which gained 4.23% to close at 25.36.
The worst performers were Kroger Company (NYSE:KR) which was down 9.24% to 22.29 in late trade, Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST) which lost 7.19% to settle at 167.11 and AutoNation Inc (NYSE:AN) which was down 5.73% to 40.31 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Celsion Corp (NASDAQ:CLSN) which rose 56.10% to 3.200, Whole Foods Market Inc (NASDAQ:WFM) which was up 29.10% to settle at 42.68 and Avinger Inc (NASDAQ:AVGR) which gained 23.93% to close at 0.47.
The worst performers were Interpace Diagnostics Group Inc (NASDAQ:IDXG) which was down 39.24% to 0.9297 in late trade, iFresh Inc (NASDAQ:IFMK) which lost 19.00% to settle at 12.15 and Biostar Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:BSPM) which was down 18.12% to 1.3100 at the close.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 1830 to 1399 and 24 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1434 fell and 1108 advanced, while 80 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 4.95% to 10.36.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for August delivery was up 0.19% or 2.35 to $1256.95 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in July rose 0.61% or 0.27 to hit $44.73 a barrel, while the August Brent oil contract rose 0.94% or 0.44 to trade at $47.36 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.48% to 1.1200, while USD/JPY fell 0.06% to 110.86.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.39% at 97.12.