Investing.com – U.S. stocks were higher after the close on Friday, as gains in the Healthcare, Technology and Consumer Services sectors led shares higher.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.41%, while the S&P 500 index gained 0.85%, and the NASDAQ Composite index added 1.34%.
The best performers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were General Electric Company (NYSE:GE), which rose 3.13% or 0.42 points to trade at 13.85 at the close. Meanwhile, Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) added 1.40% or 1.40 points to end at 101.16 and Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) was up 1.39% or 2.57 points to 187.97 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Caterpillar Inc (NYSE:CAT), which fell 0.29% or 0.40 points to trade at 135.41 at the close. DowDuPont Inc (NYSE:DWDP) declined 0.21% or 0.14 points to end at 65.93 and Nike Inc (NYSE:NKE) was down 0.09% or 0.07 points to 76.48.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Biogen Inc (NASDAQ:BIIB) which rose 19.63% to 357.48, Advanced Micro Devices Inc (NASDAQ:AMD) which was up 5.55% to settle at 16.360 and DISH Network Corporation (NASDAQ:DISH) which gained 4.29% to close at 34.99.
The worst performers were CBOE Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:CBOE) which was down 2.09% to 100.79 in late trade, Newmont Mining Corporation (NYSE:NEM) which lost 1.56% to settle at 37.83 and Allegion PLC (NYSE:ALLE) which was down 1.31% to 76.86 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Black Box Corporation (NASDAQ:BBOX) which rose 113.68% to 2.03, AC Immune Ltd (NASDAQ:ACIU) which was up 38.28% to settle at 12.86 and Xenetic Biosciences Inc (NASDAQ:XBIO) which gained 22.45% to close at 5.290.
The worst performers were Regulus Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:RGLS) which was down 52.13% to 0.350 in late trade, Real Goods Solar Inc (NASDAQ:RGSE) which lost 24.06% to settle at 0.4025 and China Lending Corp (NASDAQ:CLDC) which was down 23.93% to 2.48 at the close.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the New York Stock Exchange by 2232 to 809 and 132 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1721 rose and 825 declined, while 130 ended unchanged.
Shares in Regulus Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:RGLS) fell to all time lows; losing 52.13% or 0.381 to 0.350.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 10.75% to 13.36.
Gold Futures for August delivery was down 0.24% or 3.00 to $1255.80 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in August rose 1.29% or 0.94 to hit $73.88 a barrel, while the September Brent oil contract fell 0.43% or 0.33 to trade at $77.06 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.49% to 1.1747, while USD/JPY fell 0.21% to 110.43.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.41% at 93.74.