Investing.com -- U.S. stocks were mixed on Friday ending a bearish week, as investors digested hawkish comments from Janet Yellen suggesting that it is likely the Federal Reserve will raise short-term interest rates before the end of the year.
Speaking at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst on Thursday evening, the Fed chair said conditions in the economy will likely be appropriate for the U.S. central bank to raise the target range on its benchmark Federal Funds Rate at some point in 2015. Downplaying widespread concerns related to the deceleration of inflation, Yellen noted that the Fed believes inflation can move to its targeted goal of 2% once transitory factors from falling energy prices and a stronger dollar evaporate.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average still closed higher for the session, after receiving a much-needed boost from Nike Inc (NYSE:NKE). One day after crushing analysts' expectations for its first quarter earnings, the global apparel giant surged nearly 9% on Friday to reach a fresh all-time high at 125.94. The NASDAQ Composite index and the S&P 500 Composite index, however, both closed lower amid a weak performance among biotech stocks. The Dow gained 113.35 or 0.7% to close at 16,314.67, while the NASDAQ fell 47.98 or 1.01% to end the week at 4,686.50. The NASDAQ Biotechnology exchange-traded fund slumped nearly 5% on the day, suffering one of its worst one-day declines since April, 2014.
The S&P 500, meanwhile, lost 0.90 or 0.05% to 1,931.34, even as six of 10 sectors closed in the green. Stocks in the Health Care, Consumer Services and Basic Materials sectors lagged, while stocks in the Financials, Utilities and Consumer Goods industries led. Health Care stocks plunged nearly 3% on the session.
Nike ended Friday as the top performer on the Dow after soaring 10.21 or 8.89% to 125.00. On Thursday, the Beaverton, Oregon apparel company posted earnings of $8.4 billion and adjusted earnings per share of 1.34 for the first quarter of fiscal year 2016, significantly above analysts' forecasts of $8.22 billion and 1.19 respectively. In terms of revenues, Nike sales increased in North America by more than 8% on a currency neutral basis and 30% in China. Nike shares are now up more than 40% year to date. The worst performer was UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH), which fell 4.72 or 3.90% to 116.37.
The biggest gainer on the NASDAQ was Cisco Systems Inc (NASDAQ:CSCO), which rose 0.62 or 2.42% to 26.03. Earlier this week, Inspur, a Chinese cloud computing company said it inked a deal with the Silicon Valley-based networking device company to sell networking technologies in China. The worst performer was Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:VRTX), which plunged 7.83 and 7.05% to 103.28.
Nike was also the top performer on the S&P 500, just ahead of Genworth Financial Inc (NYSE:GNW) which gained 0.20 or 4.21% to 4.95. Shares in Genworth Financial (NYSE:GNW) are still down by nearly 65% on the year. A host of prominent pharmaceutical stocks, including: Vertex Pharmaceutical, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:REGN), Alexion Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:ALXN) and Perrigo all closed Friday's session among the biggest losers on the S&P 500.
On the New York Stock Exchange, declining issues outnumbered advancing ones by a 1,625 to 1,479 margin.