U.S. shares higher at close of trade; Dow Jones Industrial Average up 0.72%

Investing.com – U.S. equities were higher at the close on Friday, as gains in the Utilities, Basic Materials and Consumer Services sectors propelled shares higher.

At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.72%, while the S&P 500 index gained 0.54%, and the NASDAQ Composite index climbed 0.64%.

The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Caterpillar Inc (NYSE:CAT), which rose 1.69% or 5.73 points to trade at 345.31 at the close. Travelers Companies (NYSE:TRV) added 1.59% or 3.72 points to end at 237.83 and Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) was up 1.55% or 0.30 points to 19.66 in late trade.

Biggest losers included Boeing Co (NYSE:BA), which lost 3.69% or 6.00 points to trade at 156.77 in late trade. JPMorgan Chase&Co (NYSE:JPM) declined 1.10% or 2.28 points to end at 204.32 and Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN) shed 0.27% or 0.51 points to 186.49.

The top performers on the S&P 500 were Warner Bros Discovery Inc (NASDAQ:WBD) which rose 10.84% to 8.49, VF Corporation (NYSE:VFC) which was up 8.47% to settle at 18.70 and Etsy Inc (NASDAQ:ETSY) which gained 7.56% to close at 55.65.

The worst performers were Adobe Systems Incorporated (NASDAQ:ADBE) which was down 8.47% to 536.87 in late trade, Garmin Ltd (NYSE:GRMN) which lost 5.14% to settle at 172.66 and Boeing Co (NYSE:BA) which was down 3.69% to 156.77 at the close.

The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Yunji Inc (NASDAQ:YJ) which rose 348.04% to 2.15, Nova Vision Acquisition Corp (NASDAQ:NOVV) which was up 200.08% to settle at 37.00 and SMX Security Matters Ord Shs Class A (NASDAQ:SMX) which gained 139.96% to close at 5.88.

The worst performers were Garden Stage Ltd (NASDAQ:GSIW) which was down 75.49% to 2.99 in late trade, Universe Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:UPC) which lost 67.43% to settle at 0.54 and Vision Marine Technologies Inc (NASDAQ:VMAR) which was down 47.32% to 0.78 at the close.

Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 2286 to 555 and 64 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 2472 rose and 839 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 2.99% to 16.56.

In commodities trading, Gold Futures for December delivery was up 1.08% or 27.95 to $2,608.55 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in October rose 0.36% or 0.25 to hit $69.22 a barrel, while the November Brent oil contract rose 0.18% or 0.13 to trade at $72.10 a barrel.

EUR/USD was unchanged 0.00% to 1.11, while USD/JPY fell 0.60% to 140.94.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.21% at 101.14.