Investing.com – U.S. equities were higher at the close on Friday, as gains in the Oil & Gas, Financials and Consumer Goods sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in New York, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.94%, while the S&P 500 index gained 0.90%, and the NASDAQ Composite index gained 0.68%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Nike Inc (NYSE:NKE), which rose 4.46% or 4.39 points to trade at 102.71 at the close. Chevron Corporation (NYSE:CVX) added 2.30% or 2.41 points to end at 107.16 and Home Depot Inc (NYSE:HD) was up 2.27% or 2.61 points to 117.77 in late trade.
Biggest losers included UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH), which lost 1.16% or 1.40 points to trade at 119.36 in late trade. Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) declined 0.73% or 0.93 points to end at 126.57 and EI du Pont de Nemours and Company (NYSE:DD) gained 0.11% or 0.08 points to 74.59.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Biogen Idec Inc (NASDAQ:BIIB) which rose 9.66% to 475.52, Freeport-McMoran Copper & Gold Inc (NYSE:FCX) which was up 6.98% to settle at 18.46 and Transocean Ltd (NYSE:RIG) which gained 5.37% to close at 14.92.
The worst performers were Airgas Inc (NYSE:ARG) which was down 5.05% to 107.30 in late trade, Macerich Company (NYSE:MAC) which lost 4.44% to settle at 89.35 and Tiffany & Co (NYSE:TIF) which was down 3.90% to 83.00 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Prothena Corporation plc (NASDAQ:PRTA) which rose 32.26% to 38.66, FreeSeas Inc (NASDAQ:FREE) which was up 31.28% to settle at 0.070 and Acorn Energy Inc (NASDAQ:ACFN) which gained 26.08% to close at 0.45.
The worst performers were Metabolix Inc (NASDAQ:MBLX) which was down 18.74% to 0.65 in late trade, Sutor Technology Group Limited (NASDAQ:SUTR) which lost 14.54% to settle at 0.555 and Erickson Air-Crane Inc (NASDAQ:EAC) which was down 13.49% to 4.620 at the close.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 2343 to 463 and 1 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1693 rose and 1095 declined, while 2 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 7.25% to 13.05 a new 3-month low.
In commodities trading, Gold for April delivery was up 1.15% or 13.50 to $1182.50 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude Oil for delivery in May rose 1.82% or 0.83 to hit $46.36 a barrel, while the May Brent Oil contract rose 1.23% or 0.67 to trade at $55.10 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 1.50% to 1.0818, while USD/JPY fell 0.71% to 119.95.
The US Dollar Index was down 1.36% at 98.10.