Investing.com – U.S. stocks were lower after the close on Friday, as losses in the Oil & Gas, Utilities and Financials sectors led shares lower.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 0.41%, while the S&P 500 index declined 0.35%, and the NASDAQ Composite index declined 0.07%.
The best performers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Dow Inc (NYSE:DOW), which rose 3.51% or 1.89 points to trade at 55.72 at the close. Meanwhile, Cisco Systems Inc (NASDAQ:CSCO) added 1.38% or 0.62 points to end at 45.44 and Caterpillar Inc (NYSE:CAT) was up 0.88% or 1.58 points to 180.75 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC), which fell 6.32% or 3.20 points to trade at 47.45 at the close. Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) declined 1.55% or 1.99 points to end at 126.71 and Home Depot Inc (NYSE:HD) was down 1.28% or 3.51 points to 270.46.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Fortinet Inc (NASDAQ:FTNT) which rose 6.91% to 145.84, ABIOMED Inc (NASDAQ:ABMD) which was up 4.11% to settle at 293.58 and Martin Marietta Materials Inc (NYSE:MLM) which gained 4.09% to close at 276.61.
The worst performers were Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) which was down 6.32% to 47.45 in late trade, Macerich Company (NYSE:MAC) which lost 5.66% to settle at 10.51 and FedEx Corporation (NYSE:FDX) which was down 5.64% to 275.78 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Mereo BioPharma Group PLC ADR (NASDAQ:MREO) which rose 62.44% to 3.590, VistaGen Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:VTGN) which was up 50.16% to settle at 1.3900 and Cyren Ltd (NASDAQ:CYRN) which gained 45.03% to close at 1.450.
The worst performers were Mingzhu Logistics Holdings Ltd (NASDAQ:YGMZ) which was down 37.09% to 11.01 in late trade, Mesoblast Ltd (NASDAQ:MESO) which lost 31.69% to settle at 9.27 and Frequency Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:FREQ) which was down 20.63% to 31.51 at the close.
Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the New York Stock Exchange by 1856 to 1241 and 78 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1623 fell and 1407 advanced, while 61 ended unchanged.
Shares in Mereo BioPharma Group PLC ADR (NASDAQ:MREO) rose to 52-week highs; gaining 62.44% or 1.380 to 3.590. Shares in VistaGen Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:VTGN) rose to 52-week highs; gaining 50.16% or 0.4643 to 1.3900.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 1.64% to 21.57.
Gold Futures for February delivery was down 0.24% or 4.45 to $1885.95 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in January rose 1.49% or 0.72 to hit $49.08 a barrel, while the February Brent oil contract rose 1.51% or 0.78 to trade at $52.28 a barrel.
EUR/USD was down 0.13% to 1.2250, while USD/JPY rose 0.22% to 103.33.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.19% at 89.910.