U.S. equities finished higher on Friday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average rising 0.98% to 53,277.01, extending gains driven by strength in basic materials, consumer goods and healthcare sectors.
The S&P 500 climbed 0.43% to 7,674.30, while the Nasdaq Composite added 0.44% to 26,180.46. Market breadth showed advancing issues outpacing decliners on both the NYSE and Nasdaq, with the NYSE recording 1,662 advancers against 1,032 decliners and the Nasdaq tallying 2,120 advancers to 1,303 decliners. The CBOE Volatility Index fell 5.50% to 15.13.
Among Dow components, Goldman Sachs led with a 3.74% gain to close at 1,039.41, followed by Merck at 2.37% to 152.52 and Amgen at 1.88% to 439.33. Decliners included Honeywell at 1.11% to 215.90, NVIDIA at 0.96% to 214.77 and Apple at 0.60% to 309.42.
In the S&P 500, Moderna surged 8.86% to 145.13, while Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold rose 7.65% to 76.67 and Albemarle gained 6.75% to 143.25. On the downside, Sempra Energy fell 5.14% to 82.89, Edison International lost 4.11% to 71.59 and American Electric Power declined 3.79% to 120.94.
Nasdaq leaders included XCHG Ltd ADR, up 1,908.70% to 4.62, RF Acquisition Corp II, which gained 341.06% to 58.00, and Werewolf Therapeutics, which advanced 103.39% to 0.88. Laggards were SU Group Holdings, down 42.34% to 1.60, GD Culture Group, which fell 37.35% to 1.56, and CDT Environmental Technology, which declined 34.97% to 1.19.
Commodities showed mixed performance, with gold futures for December delivery jumping 2.15% to a record $4,669.51 per troy ounce. Crude oil for October delivery slipped 0.01% to $86.82 per barrel, while Brent crude for October rose 0.31% to $94.07. The U.S. dollar index futures were down 0.05% at 98.77, EUR/USD held steady at 1.17 and USD/JPY fell 0.02% to 159.02.
