Investing.com – U.S. equities were higher at the close on Friday, as gains in the Consumer Services, Utilities and Healthcare sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.63%, while the S&P 500 index gained 0.45%, and the NASDAQ Composite index added 0.54%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were McDonald`s Corporation (NYSE:MCD), which rose 2.27% or 2.16 points to trade at 97.41 at the close. Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS) added 1.83% or 1.88 points to end at 104.48 and UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) was up 1.65% or 1.93 points to 118.70 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Cisco Systems Inc (NASDAQ:CSCO), which lost 0.91% or 0.24 points to trade at 26.02 in late trade. EI du Pont de Nemours and Company (NYSE:DD) declined 0.37% or 0.18 points to end at 48.44 and Merck & Company Inc (NYSE:MRK) shed 0.34% or 0.18 points to 52.09.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Kroger Company (NYSE:KR) which rose 5.34% to 37.29, Newmont Mining Corporation (NYSE:NEM) which was up 4.37% to settle at 16.24 and EMC Corporation (NYSE:EMC) which gained 2.89% to close at 24.60.
The worst performers were CONSOL Energy Inc (NYSE:CNX) which was down 5.15% to 12.53 in late trade, Murphy Oil Corporation (NYSE:MUR) which lost 4.97% to settle at 26.78 and Transocean Ltd (NYSE:RIG) which was down 3.91% to 14.24 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were xG Technology Inc (NASDAQ:XGTI) which rose 40.53% to 0.585, Mirati Ther (NASDAQ:MRTX) which was up 25.03% to settle at 43.51 and Unico American Corporation (NASDAQ:UNAM) which unchanged 0.00% to close at 13.76.
The worst performers were Cherokee Inc (NASDAQ:CHKE) which was down 38.53% to 14.82 in late trade, Zumiez Inc (NASDAQ:ZUMZ) which lost 32.46% to settle at 14.63 and Energy Focu (NASDAQ:EFOI) which was down 28.57% to 16.43 at the close.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 1402 to 1141 and 4 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1456 rose and 1090 declined, while 68 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 3.78% to 23.45.
In commodities trading, Gold for December delivery was down 0.22% or 2.40 to $1106.90 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in October fell 2.50% or 1.15 to hit $44.77 a barrel, while the October Brent oil contract fell 1.59% or 0.78 to trade at $48.12 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.50% to 1.1336, while USD/JPY fell 0.05% to 120.56.
The US Dollar Index was down 0.38% at 95.19.