U.S. stocks higher at close of trade; Dow Jones Industrial Average up 1.76% 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 rose 1.76%, while the index gained 2.47%, and the index added 3.33%.

The best performers of the session on the were Apple Inc (NASDAQ:), which rose 4.08% or 5.86 points to trade at 149.64 at the close. Meanwhile, Boeing Co (NYSE:) added 3.52% or 4.50 points to end at 132.23 and Walt Disney Company (NYSE:) was up 3.51% or 3.71 points to 109.32 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were Coca-Cola Co (NYSE:), which rose 0.59% or 0.38 points to trade at 64.68 at the close. Verizon Communications Inc (NYSE:) added 0.80% or 0.41 points to end at 51.40 and Merck & Company Inc (NYSE:) was up 0.83% or 0.77 points to 93.08.

The top performers on the S&P 500 were Ulta Beauty Inc (NASDAQ:) which rose 12.47% to 425.08, Autodesk Inc (NASDAQ:) which was up 10.31% to settle at 211.38 and Moderna Inc (NASDAQ:) which gained 8.73% to close at 147.66.

The worst performers were Bristol-Myers Squibb Company (NYSE:) which was down 1.87% to 76.14 in late trade, CF Industries Holdings Inc (NYSE:) which lost 1.02% to settle at 95.72 and Philip Morris International Inc (NYSE:) which was down 1.02% to 106.97 at the close.

The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Avadel Pharmaceuticals PLC (NASDAQ:) which rose 133.64% to 2.50, Oncternal Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:) which was up 88.08% to settle at 1.54 and SIGA Technologies Inc (NASDAQ:) which gained 41.91% to close at 13.68.

The worst performers were Performance Shipping Inc (NASDAQ:) which was down 63.56% to 0.66 in late trade, Iovance Biotherapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:) which lost 53.57% to settle at 7.02 and SpringWorks Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:) which was down 40.45% to 18.36 at the close.

Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the New York Stock Exchange by 2756 to 435 and 74 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 3074 rose and 694 declined, while 169 ended unchanged.

Shares in Performance Shipping Inc (NASDAQ:) fell to 5-year lows; falling 63.56% or 1.16 to 0.66. Shares in Iovance Biotherapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:) fell to 3-years lows; losing 53.57% or 8.10 to 7.02. Shares in SIGA Technologies Inc (NASDAQ:) rose to 5-year highs; rising 41.91% or 4.04 to 13.68. Shares in SpringWorks Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:) fell to 52-week lows; losing 40.45% or 12.47 to 18.36.

The , which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 6.47% to 25.72.

Gold Futures for June delivery was up 0.20% or 3.77 to $1,851.37 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in July rose 0.90% or 1.03 to hit $115.12 a barrel, while the August Brent oil contract rose 1.20% or 1.37 to trade at $115.54 a barrel.

EUR/USD was unchanged 0.05% to 1.07, while USD/JPY fell 0.02% to 127.11.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.16% at 101.69.