Investing.com – U.S. equities were higher at the close on Friday, as gains in the Health Care, Financials and Industrials sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in New York, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.86% to hit a new all time high, while the S&P 500 index gained 0.61%, and the NASDAQ Composite index gained 0.63%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Boeing Company (NYSE:BA), which rose 2.97% or 4.56 points to trade at 158.31 at the close. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) added 2.35% or 2.59 points to end at 112.62 and American Express Company (NYSE:AXP) was up 1.82% or 1.43 points to 79.83 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG), which lost 0.40% or 0.34 points to trade at 84.87 in late trade. Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO) declined 0.33% or 0.14 points to end at 41.97 and The Travelers Companies Inc (NYSE:TRV) shed 0.16% or 0.17 points to 107.82.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Mohawk Industries Inc (NYSE:MHK) which rose 6.71% to 184.26, Intuit Inc (NASDAQ:INTU) which was up 6.16% to settle at 96.72 and Nordstrom Inc (NYSE:JWN) which gained 5.96% to close at 81.74.
The worst performers were Iron Mountain Incorporated (NYSE:IRM) which was down 5.46% to 36.71 in late trade, Avon Products Inc (NYSE:AVP) which lost 3.21% to settle at 8.45 and EOG Resources Inc (NYSE:EOG) which was down 2.90% to 91.08 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Egalet Corportn (NASDAQ:EGLT) which rose 29.35% to 14.50, WPCS International Incorporated (NASDAQ:WPCS) which was up 26.44% to settle at 0.319 and Helios and Matheson Analytics Inc (NASDAQ:HMNY) which gained 22.30% to close at 1.786.
The worst performers were Ivanhoe Energy Inc (NASDAQ:IVAN) which was down 39.43% to 0.424 in late trade, CollabRx Inc (NASDAQ:CLRX) which lost 36.51% to settle at 1.200 and Genetic Technologies Ltd (NASDAQ:GENE) which was down 32.00% to 6.460 at the close.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 1817 to 976 and 1 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1470 rose and 1321 declined, while 3 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 6.47% to 14.30 a new 1-month low.
In commodities trading, Gold for April delivery was down 0.47% or 5.70 to $1201.90 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude Oil for delivery in April fell 2.08% or 1.08 to hit $50.75 a barrel, while the April Brent Oil contract fell 0.28% or 0.17 to trade at $60.04 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.09% to 1.1379, while USD/JPY rose 0.10% to 119.06.
The US Dollar Index was down 0.05% at 94.42.