Investing.com – U.S. equities were higher at the close on Friday, as gains in the Oil & Gas, Consumer Services and Basic Materials sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.56% to hit a new all time high, while the S&P 500 index added 0.37%, and the NASDAQ Composite index climbed 0.20%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Boeing Co (NYSE:BA), which rose 5.40% or 11.51 points to trade at 224.54 at the close. Visa Inc Class A (NYSE:V) added 3.84% or 8.01 points to end at 216.79 and Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS) was up 3.17% or 5.40 points to 175.68 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Merck & Company Inc (NYSE:MRK), which lost 9.87% or 8.94 points to trade at 81.60 in late trade. Home Depot Inc (NYSE:HD) declined 1.00% or 3.71 points to end at 368.47 and Walmart Inc (NYSE:WMT) shed 0.70% or 1.06 points to 150.22.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Expedia Inc (NASDAQ:EXPE) which rose 15.59% to 182.11, Pfizer Inc (NYSE:PFE) which was up 10.83% to settle at 48.60 and Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd (NYSE:RCL) which gained 8.95% to close at 96.67.
The worst performers were Nektar Therapeutics (NASDAQ:NKTR) which was down 19.22% to 13.45 in late trade, Merck & Company Inc (NYSE:MRK) which lost 9.87% to settle at 81.60 and Citrix Systems Inc (NASDAQ:CTXS) which was down 6.20% to 89.20 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Assertio Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:ASRT) which rose 35.14% to 1.5000, Chinook Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:KDNY) which was up 30.31% to settle at 15.95 and Bigcommerce Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:BIGC) which gained 28.24% to close at 58.80.
The worst performers were Deciphera Pharmaceuticals LLC (NASDAQ:DCPH) which was down 75.56% to 8.80 in late trade, Calithera Biosciences Inc (NASDAQ:CALA) which lost 54.66% to settle at 0.861 and Tabula Rasa HealthCare Inc (NASDAQ:TRHC) which was down 52.49% to 14.14 at the close.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 2134 to 1102 and 128 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1943 rose and 1716 declined, while 163 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was up 6.74% to 16.48.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for December delivery was up 1.40% or 25.05 to $1818.55 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in December rose 3.27% or 2.58 to hit $81.39 a barrel, while the January Brent oil contract rose 2.69% or 2.17 to trade at $82.71 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.13% to 1.1567, while USD/JPY fell 0.34% to 113.36.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.14% at 94.207.