Investing.com – U.S. equities were mixed at the close on Friday, as gains in the Technology, Financials and Consumer Services sectors propelled shares higher while losses in the Oil & Gas, Healthcare and Basic Materials sectors led shares lower.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.21% to hit a new all time high, while the S&P 500 index declined 0.14%, and the NASDAQ Composite index gained 0.54%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS), which rose 2.86% or 2.72 points to trade at 97.68 at the close. Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE:GS) added 1.46% or 2.93 points to end at 203.80 and Cisco Systems Inc (NASDAQ:CSCO) was up 1.16% or 0.36 points to 31.36 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Pfizer Inc (NYSE:PFE), which lost 2.72% or 0.91 points to trade at 32.58 in late trade. EI du Pont de Nemours and Company (NYSE:DD) declined 2.47% or 1.75 points to end at 69.20 and Merck & Company Inc (NYSE:MRK) shed 1.65% or 1.07 points to 63.89.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) which rose 29.73% to 87.92, Tegna Inc (NYSE:TGNA) which was up 7.22% to settle at 21.2300 and Nordstrom Inc (NYSE:JWN) which gained 4.80% to close at 58.72.
The worst performers were Alexion Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:ALXN) which was down 10.45% to 113.62 in late trade, Newmont Mining Corporation (NYSE:NEM) which lost 8.94% to settle at 31.58 and Centene Corporation (NYSE:CNC) which was down 8.59% to 50.67 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Ptc Therape (NASDAQ:PTCT) which rose 88.33% to 11.30, Fate Therap (NASDAQ:FATE) which was up 36.28% to settle at 2.930 and Turtle Beach Corp (NASDAQ:HEAR) which gained 35.92% to close at 1.930.
The worst performers were Liberty Tripadvisor Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:LTRPB) which was down 23.49% to 17.75 in late trade, Fronteo Inc (NASDAQ:FTEO) which lost 18.15% to settle at 15.47 and Sundance Energy Australia Ltd (NASDAQ:SNDE) which was down 13.86% to 11.56 at the close.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 1659 to 1534 and 53 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1834 rose and 672 declined, while 109 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 3.60% to 14.21.
In commodities trading, Gold for December delivery was down 3.30% or 41.85 to $1224.55 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in December fell 3.22% or 1.44 to hit $43.22 a barrel, while the January Brent oil contract fell 2.57% or 1.18 to trade at $44.66 a barrel.
EUR/USD was down 0.39% to 1.0854, while USD/JPY fell 0.07% to 106.75.
The US Dollar Index was up 0.21% at 99.00.