U.S. stocks higher at close of trade; Dow Jones Industrial Average up 0.07%

Investing.com – U.S. stocks were higher after the close on Friday, as gains in the Telecoms, Financials and Consumer Services sectors led shares higher.

At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.07%, while the S&P 500 index gained 0.18%, and the NASDAQ Composite index climbed 0.09%.

The best performers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc (NASDAQ:WBA), which rose 3.09% or 0.75 points to trade at 25.01 at the close. Meanwhile, Verizon Communications Inc (NYSE:VZ) added 2.08% or 0.82 points to end at 40.19 and Boeing Co (NYSE:BA) was up 1.65% or 4.05 points to 248.99 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH), which fell 1.49% or 8.13 points to trade at 537.29 at the close. International Business Machines (NYSE:IBM) declined 1.07% or 1.72 points to end at 159.14 and McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE:MCD) was down 0.93% or 2.70 points to 289.04.

The top performers on the S&P 500 were Catalent Inc (NYSE:CTLT) which rose 5.25% to 45.73, Southwest Airlines Company (NYSE:LUV) which was up 4.33% to settle at 29.14 and American Airlines Group (NASDAQ:AAL) which gained 3.90% to close at 13.60.

The worst performers were MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI) which was down 3.91% to 537.86 in late trade, Enphase Energy Inc (NASDAQ:ENPH) which lost 2.27% to settle at 115.39 and Incyte Corporation (NASDAQ:INCY) which was down 2.00% to 65.26 at the close.

The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Revelstone Capital Acquisition Corp (NASDAQ:RCAC) which rose 91.15% to 10.80, Zoomcar Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:ZCAR) which was up 64.45% to settle at 4.21 and Ainos Inc (NASDAQ:AIMD) which gained 58.38% to close at 2.74.

The worst performers were Dogness International Corp Class A (NASDAQ:DOGZ) which was down 51.87% to 4.38 in late trade, Avenue Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:ATXI) which lost 44.64% to settle at 0.19 and Applied Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:APLT) which was down 40.63% to 2.25 at the close.

Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the New York Stock Exchange by 1528 to 1327 and 85 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1967 fell and 1425 advanced, while 140 ended unchanged.

The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 5.52% to 13.35.

Gold Futures for February delivery was up 0.09% or 1.75 to $2,051.75 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in February rose 2.41% or 1.74 to hit $73.93 a barrel, while the March Brent oil contract rose 1.61% or 1.25 to trade at $78.84 a barrel.

EUR/USD was unchanged 0.04% to 1.09, while USD/JPY rose 0.08% to 144.74.

The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.04% at 102.18.