Investing.com – U.S. equities were higher at the close on Friday, as gains in the Oil & Gas, Consumer Services and Technology sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.10% to hit a new 1-month high, while the S&P 500 index gained 0.92%, and the NASDAQ Composite index climbed 1.88%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc (NASDAQ:WBA), which rose 7.20% or 2.77 points to trade at 41.26 at the close. Nike Inc (NYSE:NKE) added 6.63% or 6.60 points to end at 106.09 and Dow Inc (NYSE:DOW) was up 6.37% or 3.18 points to 53.14 in late trade.
Biggest losers included UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH), which lost 4.06% or 22.09 points to trade at 522.08 in late trade. Merck & Company Inc (NYSE:MRK) declined 3.86% or 3.93 points to end at 97.96 and Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) shed 2.99% or 5.22 points to 169.25.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Paramount Global Class B (NASDAQ:PARA) which rose 13.52% to 18.81, Align Technology Inc (NASDAQ:ALGN) which was up 11.45% to settle at 218.98 and VF Corporation (NYSE:VFC) which gained 11.39% to close at 33.34.
The worst performers were Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC) which was down 7.32% to 492.70 in late trade, Huntington Ingalls Industries Inc (NYSE:HII) which lost 6.79% to settle at 227.58 and Cigna Corp (NYSE:CI) which was down 6.04% to 303.82 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were ShiftPixy Inc (NASDAQ:PIXY) which rose 56.43% to 19.10, Exela Technologies Inc (NASDAQ:XELA) which was up 50.27% to settle at 0.28 and Ucloudlink Group Inc (NASDAQ:UCL) which gained 46.15% to close at 1.90.
The worst performers were PLx Pharma Inc (NASDAQ:PLXP) which was down 37.50% to 0.38 in late trade, Science 37 Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:SNCE) which lost 32.06% to settle at 0.85 and Airsculpt Technologies Inc (NASDAQ:AIRS) which was down 30.66% to 3.28 at the close.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 2027 to 1071 and 115 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 2460 rose and 1296 declined, while 219 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 4.33% to 22.51 a new 1-month low.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for December delivery was up 0.98% or 17.10 to $1,770.80 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in December rose 2.93% or 2.53 to hit $89.00 a barrel, while the January Brent oil contract rose 2.53% or 2.37 to trade at $96.04 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 1.48% to 1.04, while USD/JPY fell 1.64% to 138.65.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 1.72% at 106.23.