Investing.com – U.S. equities were higher at the close on Friday, as gains in the Oil & Gas, Industrials and Basic Materials sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 1.38% to hit a new 1-month high, while the S&P 500 index climbed 1.32%, and the NASDAQ Composite index added 1.03%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Home Depot Inc (NYSE:HD), which rose 2.69% or 4.71 points to trade at 179.58 at the close. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) added 2.21% or 5.73 points to end at 265.50 and Caterpillar Inc (NYSE:CAT) was up 2.18% or 2.92 points to 136.60 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS), which added 0.03% or 0.03 points to trade at 111.04 in late trade. Pfizer Inc (NYSE:PFE) added 0.14% or 0.06 points to end at 42.53 and Merck & Company Inc (NYSE:MRK) gained 0.36% or 0.27 points to 75.87.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Pacific Gas & Electric Co (NYSE:PCG) which rose 13.68% to 7.23, VF Corporation (NYSE:VFC) which was up 12.39% to settle at 82.34 and Schlumberger NV (NYSE:SLB) which gained 8.12% to close at 44.73.
The worst performers were CarMax Inc (NYSE:KMX) which was down 4.09% to 61.92 in late trade, Netflix Inc (NASDAQ:NFLX) which lost 3.99% to settle at 339.10 and LKQ Corporation (NASDAQ:LKQ) which was down 2.42% to 26.25 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Ascent Capital Group Inc (NASDAQ:ASCMA) which rose 42.79% to 0.61, Avalon Globocare Corp (NASDAQ:AVCO) which was up 34.94% to settle at 5.600 and Ultra Petroleum Corp (NASDAQ:UPL) which gained 29.87% to close at 0.995.
The worst performers were Organogenesis Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:ORGO) which was down 44.82% to 30.350 in late trade, Tyme Technologies Inc (NASDAQ:TYME) which lost 35.39% to settle at 2.41 and Bio Path Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:BPTH) which was down 30.56% to 1.750 at the close.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 2234 to 834 and 76 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1806 rose and 841 declined, while 83 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 1.44% to 17.80 a new 1-month low.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for February delivery was down 0.92% or 11.95 to $1280.35 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in February rose 3.32% or 1.73 to hit $53.80 a barrel, while the March Brent oil contract rose 2.44% or 1.49 to trade at $62.67 a barrel.
EUR/USD was down 0.24% to 1.1367, while USD/JPY rose 0.43% to 109.70.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.32% at 96.018.