Investing.com – U.S. equities were higher at the close on Friday, as gains in the Basic Materials, Industrials and Technology sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.75%, while the S&P 500 index gained 0.96%, and the NASDAQ Composite index gained 1.58%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Caterpillar Inc (NYSE:CAT), which rose 2.88% or 3.89 points to trade at 139.06 at the close. Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) added 2.37% or 1.20 points to end at 51.75 and Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) was up 2.13% or 2.69 points to 128.90 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Home Depot Inc (NYSE:HD), which lost 0.22% or 0.45 points to trade at 200.56 in late trade. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) declined 0.22% or 0.50 points to end at 231.95 and Cisco Systems Inc (NASDAQ:CSCO) 0.00% or 0.00 points to 54.94.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Newell Brands Inc (NASDAQ:NWL) which rose 13.52% to 16.63, Flowserve Corporation (NYSE:FLS) which was up 9.34% to settle at 52.00 and Monster Beverage Corp (NASDAQ:MNST) which gained 8.83% to close at 63.11.
The worst performers were Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp Class A (NASDAQ:CTSH) which was down 11.05% to 59.25 in late trade, Stericycle Inc (NASDAQ:SRCL) which lost 9.15% to settle at 52.01 and Activision Blizzard Inc (NASDAQ:ATVI) which was down 4.84% to 47.15 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Evine Live Inc (NASDAQ:EVLV) which rose 66.39% to 0.609, Durect Corporation (NASDAQ:DRRX) which was up 49.01% to settle at 0.790 and Zix Corporation (NASDAQ:ZIXI) which gained 34.63% to close at 11.080.
The worst performers were Guardion Health Sciences Inc (NASDAQ:GHSI) which was down 24.10% to 1.6100 in late trade, Diffusion Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:DFFN) which lost 22.20% to settle at 4.5900 and Harvard Bioscience Inc (NASDAQ:HBIO) which was down 21.87% to 2.930 at the close.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 2359 to 645 and 87 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 2072 rose and 582 declined, while 77 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 10.75% to 12.87.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for June delivery was up 0.65% or 8.30 to $1280.30 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in June rose 0.08% or 0.05 to hit $61.86 a barrel, while the July Brent oil contract rose 0.11% or 0.08 to trade at $70.83 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.24% to 1.1202, while USD/JPY fell 0.35% to 111.11.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.40% at 97.197.