U.S. stocks higher at close of trade; Dow Jones Industrial Average up 0.40% By Investing.com

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

At the close in NYSE, the gained 0.40%, while the index gained 0.34%, and the index climbed 0.29%.

The best performers of the session on the were Verizon Communications Inc (NYSE:), which rose 2.32% or 1.18 points to trade at 52.12 at the close. Meanwhile, Visa Inc Class A (NYSE:) added 2.07% or 4.59 points to end at 226.36 and Merck & Company Inc (NYSE:) was up 1.79% or 1.47 points to 83.52 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:), which fell 2.93% or 1.45 points to trade at 48.11 at the close. Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc (NASDAQ:) declined 2.03% or 0.91 points to end at 43.86 and Caterpillar Inc (NYSE:) was down 1.37% or 3.05 points to 219.77.

The top performers on the S&P 500 were Edwards Lifesciences Corp (NYSE:) which rose 4.54% to 123.07, Newmont Goldcorp Corp (NYSE:) which was up 4.19% to settle at 82.78 and Illumina Inc (NASDAQ:) which gained 4.15% to close at 363.90.

The worst performers were JB Hunt Transport Services Inc (NASDAQ:) which was down 9.60% to 181.51 in late trade, Norfolk Southern Corporation (NYSE:) which lost 6.79% to settle at 265.84 and Old Dominion Freight Line Inc (NASDAQ:) 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:) which rose 43.80% to 11.49, Hudson Capital Inc (NASDAQ:) which was up 36.27% to settle at 2.63 and Greenidge Generation Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:) which gained 33.95% to close at 11.52.

The worst performers were Sellas Life Sciences Group Inc (NASDAQ:) which was down 37.87% to 4.15 in late trade, Cyren Ltd (NASDAQ:) which lost 36.04% to settle at 3.23 and Pulse Biosciences Inc (NASDAQ:) which was down 26.95% to 3.55 at the close.

Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the New York Stock Exchange by 2138 to 1044 and 108 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 2214 rose and 1606 declined, while 195 ended unchanged.

Shares in Newmont Goldcorp Corp (NYSE:) rose to all time highs; up 4.19% or 3.33 to 82.78. Shares in Sellas Life Sciences Group Inc (NASDAQ:) fell to 52-week lows; down 37.87% or 2.53 to 4.15. Shares in Pulse Biosciences Inc (NASDAQ:) fell to all time lows; losing 26.95% or 1.31 to 3.55.

The , which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 4.52% to 19.63.

Gold Futures for April delivery was down 1.38% or 26.90 to $1,922.30 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, 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 0.12% or 0.13 to trade at $104.58 a barrel.

EUR/USD was unchanged 0.12% 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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