Investing.com – U.S. equities were mixed at the close on Friday, as gains in the Healthcare, Technology and Basic Materials sectors propelled shares higher while losses in the Utilities, Oil & Gas and Industrials sectors led shares lower.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.80%, while the S&P 500 index declined 0.56%, and the NASDAQ Composite index gained 0.03%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc (NASDAQ:WBA), which rose 5.12% or 2.15 points to trade at 44.13 at the close. Merck & Company Inc (NYSE:MRK) added 2.20% or 1.68 points to end at 77.90 and Walmart Inc (NYSE:WMT) was up 1.58% or 1.86 points to 119.85 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS), which lost 3.40% or 4.02 points to trade at 114.35 in late trade. Raytheon Technologies Corp (NYSE:RTX) declined 2.98% or 1.99 points to end at 64.89 and Boeing Co (NYSE:BA) shed 2.74% or 5.27 points to 187.02.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Incyte Corporation (NASDAQ:INCY) which rose 8.26% to 105.40, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:REGN) which was up 7.80% to settle at 643.92 and Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc (NASDAQ:WBA) which gained 5.12% to close at 44.13.
The worst performers were Ventas Inc (NYSE:VTR) which was down 9.02% to 35.80 in late trade, Welltower Inc (NYSE:WELL) which lost 8.62% to settle at 51.00 and L Brands Inc (NYSE:LB) which was down 7.30% to 14.48 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Broadway Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:BYFC) which rose 94.71% to 3.310, MER Telemanagement Solutions Ltd (NASDAQ:MTSL) which was up 62.28% to settle at 1.850 and Urban One Inc Bats (NASDAQ:UONE) which gained 45.20% to close at 36.300.
The worst performers were Athersys Inc (NASDAQ:ATHX) which was down 31.36% to 1.970 in late trade, Obalon Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:OBLN) which lost 28.04% to settle at 0.770 and Yatra Online Inc (NASDAQ:YTRA) which was down 20.22% to 0.77 at the close.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 1875 to 993 and 71 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1449 fell and 1263 advanced, while 49 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was up 6.62% to 35.12.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for August delivery was up 1.47% or 25.40 to $1756.50 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in July rose 1.57% or 0.61 to hit $39.45 a barrel, while the August Brent oil contract rose 1.08% or 0.45 to trade at $41.96 a barrel.
EUR/USD was down 0.22% to 1.1177, while USD/JPY fell 0.07% to 106.89.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.24% at 97.637.