U.S. shares higher at close of trade; Dow Jones Industrial Average up 0.40%

Investing.com – U.S. equities were higher at the close on Friday, as gains in the Telecoms , Utilities and Basic Materials sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.40%, while the S&P 500 index gained 0.34%, and the NASDAQ Composite index climbed 0.29%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Verizon Communications Inc (NYSE: VZ ), which rose 2.32% or 1.18 points to trade at 52.12 at the close. Visa Inc Class A (NYSE: V ) added 2.07% or 4.59 points to end at 226.36 and Merck & Company Inc (NYSE: MRK ) was up 1.79% or 1.47 points to 83.52 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Intel Corporation (NASDAQ: INTC ), which lost 2.93% or 1.45 points to trade at 48.11 in late trade. Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc (NASDAQ: WBA ) declined 2.03% or 0.91 points to end at 43.86 and Caterpillar Inc (NYSE: CAT ) shed 1.37% or 3.05 points to 219.77.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Edwards Lifesciences Corp (NYSE: EW ) which rose 4.54% to 123.07, Newmont Goldcorp Corp (NYSE: NEM ) which was up 4.19% to settle at 82.78 and Illumina Inc (NASDAQ: ILMN ) which gained 4.15% to close at 363.90.
The worst performers were JB Hunt Transport Services Inc (NASDAQ: JBHT ) which was down 9.60% to 181.51 in late trade, Norfolk Southern Corporation (NYSE: NSC ) which lost 6.79% to settle at 265.84 and Old Dominion Freight Line Inc (NASDAQ: ODFL ) which was down 6.76% to 278.50 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment (NASDAQ: CSSE ) which rose 43.80% to 11.49, Hudson Capital Inc (NASDAQ: HUSN ) which was up 36.27% to settle at 2.63 and Greenidge Generation Holdings Inc (NASDAQ: GREE ) which gained 33.95% to close at 11.52.
The worst performers were Sellas Life Sciences Group Inc (NASDAQ: SLS ) which was down 37.87% to 4.15 in late trade, Cyren Ltd (NASDAQ: CYRN ) which lost 36.04% to settle at 3.23 and Pulse Biosciences Inc (NASDAQ: PLSE ) which was down 26.95% to 3.55 at the close.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 2153 to 1050 and 119 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 2200 rose and 1611 declined, while 217 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index , which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 4.52% to 19.63.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for April delivery was down 1.38% or 26.90 to $1,922.30 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in May fell 0.75% or 0.75 to hit $99.53 a barrel, while the June Brent oil contract fell 0.13% or 0.14 to trade at $104.57 a barrel.
EUR/USD was unchanged 0.13% to 1.11, while USD/JPY rose 0.69% to 122.50.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.17% at 98.53.

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