Investing.com – U.S. equities were higher at the close on Friday, as gains in the Financials, Utilities and Technology sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 1.18%, while the S&P 500 index climbed 1.09%, and the NASDAQ Composite index climbed 1.07%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA), which rose 3.16% or 4.14 points to trade at 134.82 at the close. Unitedhealth Group (NYSE:UNH) added 2.29% or 11.22 points to end at 500.47 and Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE:GS) was up 2.23% or 12.35 points to 566.34 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Merck & Company Inc (NYSE:MRK), which lost 1.38% or 1.37 points to trade at 98.15 in late trade. Walmart Inc (NYSE:WMT) declined 1.24% or 1.16 points to end at 92.24 and Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) shed 0.67% or 1.13 points to 168.06.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Enphase Energy Inc (NASDAQ:ENPH) which rose 8.60% to 71.46, Palantir Technologies Inc (NASDAQ:PLTR) which was up 8.53% to settle at 80.54 and Match Group Inc (NASDAQ:MTCH) which gained 6.70% to close at 33.76.
The worst performers were Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) which was down 3.46% to 421.06 in late trade, Old Dominion Freight Line Inc (NASDAQ:ODFL) which lost 3.39% to settle at 181.37 and Meta Platforms Inc (NASDAQ:META) which was down 1.73% to 585.25 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Nvni Group Ltd (NASDAQ:NVNI) which rose 221.35% to 8.58, My Size Inc (NASDAQ:MYSZ) which was up 212.50% to settle at 4.25 and Intchains Group Ltd ADR (NASDAQ:ICG) which gained 106.84% to close at 8.77.
The worst performers were Cyngn Inc (NASDAQ:CYN) which was down 70.88% to 0.47 in late trade, Molecular Templates Inc (NASDAQ:MTEM) which lost 54.67% to settle at 0.16 and Painreform Ltd (NASDAQ:PRFX) which was down 52.51% to 5.30 at the close.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 2072 to 745 and 68 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 2121 rose and 1178 declined, while 128 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 23.79% to 18.36.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for February delivery was up 1.23% or 31.96 to $2,640.06 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in January fell 1.57% or 1.11 to hit $69.47 a barrel, while the February Brent oil contract rose 0.03% or 0.02 to trade at $72.90 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.60% to 1.04, while USD/JPY fell 0.64% to 156.41.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.52% at 107.59.