U.S. stocks closed higher on Friday, with gains concentrated in the Consumer Services, Oil & Gas and Telecoms sectors lifting major indexes. At the New York Stock Exchange close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.53%, the S&P 500 gained 0.70% and the Nasdaq Composite rose 1.00%.
Top and bottom movers
On the Dow, Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN) recorded the largest advance, climbing 15.31% to finish at 271.55. Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) added 3.10% to close at 465.10, and NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) rose 2.95% to settle at 200.79.
The weakest performers on the blue-chip index included Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL), which fell 7.35% to 308.91 at the close. Boeing Co (NYSE:BA) declined 2.15% to 216.14 and UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) slipped 1.68% to 414.40.
Wider S&P 500 movers
Across the S&P 500, Amazon (AMZN) led gains with its 15.31% rise to 271.55. DexCom Inc (NASDAQ:DXCM) climbed 11.95% to close at 83.45, and Monolithic Power Systems Inc (NASDAQ:MPWR) advanced 8.35% to finish at 1,426.03.
Notable declines on the S&P included Godaddy Inc (NYSE:GDDY), down 16.70% to 82.74, Corteva Inc (NYSE:CTVA), which lost 11.90% to end at 78.71, and FMC Corporation (NYSE:FMC), down 9.51% to 10.71 at the close.
Headlines on the Nasdaq
The Nasdaq session produced extreme percentage moves among smaller-cap issues. The top performers were OFA Group (NASDAQ:OFAL), which surged 930.00% to 1.03, Focus Universal Inc (NASDAQ:FCUV), up 517.02% to 11.60, and Wetour Robotics Ltd (NASDAQ:WETO), which gained 189.00% to close at 0.09.
At the other extreme, JIA DA CORP (NASDAQ:JDZG) plunged 87.98% to 6.01, Karyopharm Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:KPTI) dropped 72.75% to 1.91, and T3 Defense Inc (NASDAQ:DFNS) fell 66.94% to 28.09 at the close.
Market breadth and notable price milestones
On the New York Stock Exchange, falling issues outnumbered advancing ones by 1,483 to 1,247, with 81 unchanged. On the Nasdaq, 1,892 issues fell versus 1,492 that advanced, and 183 ended unchanged.
Shares of DexCom (DXCM) climbed to 52-week highs, gaining 11.95% or 8.91 to reach 83.45. Conversely, JIA DA CORP (JDZG) fell to all-time lows, losing 87.98% or 43.99 to 6.01, and Karyopharm Therapeutics (KPTI) also hit all-time lows after a 72.75% drop or 5.10 to 1.91.
Volatility, commodities and currencies
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures implied volatility of S&P 500 options, declined 6.44% to 15.99.
In commodities trading, August Gold Futures were reported down 1.22% or 49.90 to $4,050.20 a troy ounce. Crude oil for September delivery rose 1.41% or 1.18 to $84.77 a barrel, while the October Brent contract advanced 1.46% or 1.27 to $88.15 a barrel.
On the FX front, EUR/USD was essentially unchanged, moving 0.09% to 1.15, while USD/JPY declined 0.94% to 158.04. The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.05% at 99.68.
This session combined broad index gains with sharp individual stock moves, particularly among smaller-cap names on the Nasdaq and several large-cap winners and losers on the Dow and S&P 500. Commodities and currency markets showed mixed performances, and implied equity volatility eased.