Investing.com – U.S. equities were higher at the close on Friday, as gains in the Industrials, Financials and Technology sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 1.77%, while the S&P 500 index added 1.74%, and the NASDAQ Composite index added 1.79%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Chevron Corporation (NYSE:CVX), which rose 3.41% or 3.87 points to trade at 117.22 at the close. Caterpillar Inc (NYSE:CAT) added 3.03% or 4.66 points to end at 158.25 and General Electric Company (NYSE:GE) was up 2.89% or 0.42 points to 14.94 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Verizon Communications Inc (NYSE:VZ), which added 0.02% or 0.01 points to trade at 49.01 in late trade. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) added 0.31% or 0.70 points to end at 225.43 and Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) gained 0.40% or 0.32 points to 80.29.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Lam Research Corp (NASDAQ:LRCX) which rose 5.74% to 224.95, Wynn Resorts Limited (NASDAQ:WYNN) which was up 5.46% to settle at 188.89 and Kroger Company (NYSE:KR) which gained 4.79% to close at 24.08.
The worst performers were Mattel Inc (NASDAQ:MAT) which was down 7.11% to 14.84 in late trade, Kimco Realty Corporation (NYSE:KIM) which lost 4.36% to settle at 14.48 and Scana Corporation (NYSE:SCG) which was down 3.59% to 39.13 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Arcadia Biosciences Inc (NASDAQ:RKDA) which rose 65.61% to 10.400, Spark Energy Inc (NASDAQ:SPKE) which was up 30.23% to settle at 11.20 and Coherus BioSciences Inc (NASDAQ:CHRS) which gained 30.22% to close at 11.85.
The worst performers were Sunesis Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:SNSS) which was down 42.39% to 4.2400 in late trade, Autobytel Inc (NASDAQ:AUTO) which lost 41.59% to settle at 3.960 and Jaguar Health Inc (NASDAQ:JAGX) which was down 31.05% to 0.223 at the close.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 2283 to 817 and 101 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1861 rose and 684 declined, while 115 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 11.73% to 14.60 a new 1-month low.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for April delivery was up 0.16% or 2.10 to $1323.80 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in April rose 3.28% or 1.97 to hit $62.09 a barrel, while the May Brent oil contract rose 3.07% or 1.95 to trade at $65.56 a barrel.
EUR/USD was down 0.02% to 1.2308, while USD/JPY rose 0.56% to 106.80.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.01% at 90.10.