Investing.com – U.S. equities were higher at the close on Friday, as gains in the Oil & Gas, Financials and Basic Materials sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 1.43%, while the S&P 500 index added 1.15%, and the NASDAQ Composite index added 0.82%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Merck & Company Inc (NYSE:MRK), which rose 8.37% or 6.29 points to trade at 81.40 at the close. Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS) added 4.04% or 6.84 points to end at 176.01 and American Express Company (NYSE:AXP) was up 3.83% or 6.41 points to 173.94 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Walmart Inc (NYSE:WMT), which lost 1.67% or 2.33 points to trade at 137.05 in late trade. Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) declined 0.64% or 1.03 points to end at 160.47 and Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc (NASDAQ:WBA) shed 0.53% or 0.25 points to 46.80.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were CF Industries Holdings Inc (NYSE:CF) which rose 9.53% to 61.14, TripAdvisor Inc (NASDAQ:TRIP) which was up 9.19% to settle at 36.96 and Merck & Company Inc (NYSE:MRK) which gained 8.37% to close at 81.40.
The worst performers were Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:REGN) which was down 5.68% to 570.79 in late trade, Kroger Company (NYSE:KR) which lost 3.19% to settle at 39.14 and Illumina Inc (NASDAQ:ILMN) which was down 2.66% to 394.84 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Biomerica Inc (NASDAQ:BMRA) which rose 38.00% to 6.210, Atea Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:AVIR) which was up 19.51% to settle at 41.90 and Vicinity Motor Corp (NASDAQ:VEV) which gained 19.43% to close at 5.90.
The worst performers were Omeros Corporation (NASDAQ:OMER) which was down 38.07% to 8.54 in late trade, Adagio Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:ADGI) which lost 33.71% to settle at 28.00 and Neurobo Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:NRBO) which was down 32.80% to 2.500 at the close.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 2302 to 916 and 108 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 2250 rose and 1335 declined, while 156 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 8.60% to 21.15.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for December delivery was up 0.17% or 2.90 to $1759.90 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in November rose 0.92% or 0.69 to hit $75.72 a barrel, while the December Brent oil contract rose 1.06% or 0.83 to trade at $79.14 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.13% to 1.1596, while USD/JPY fell 0.22% to 111.03.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.20% at 94.055.