Stocks drifted to a mixed finish after a half-day trading session capped a holiday shortened week that left the major indexes with their fourth straight winning week.
- The S&P 500 rose 2.72 points, or 0.1%, to 4,559.34.
- The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 117.12 points, or 0.3%, to 35,390.15.
- The Nasdaq composite fell 15 points, or 0.1%, to 14,250.85.
Bond yields rose. Trading was muted as markets reopened following the Thanksgiving holiday on Thursday, the
AP reports.
Shares in big technology stocks were the main laggards. Apple fell 0.7% and Nvidia was 1.9% lower. Google parent Alphabet was down 1.3%. Those losses were kept in check by gains in health care, financial, energy, and other sectors. Eli Lilly & Co. rose 1%, Citigroup was 0.5% higher and Exxon Mobil added 0.5%. Stocks on Wall Street have rallied in November following a three-month slide amid hope that inflation has cooled enough for the Federal Reserve to finally be done with its market-crunching hikes to interest rates. Forecasts for a potential recession have been pushed further out into 2024 while also being softened.
Oil prices, a key driver of inflation, continued to ease Friday, with US crude sliding 0.8%. Oil prices have plunged in recent weeks amid worries about a mismatch between too much crude supply and too little demand. Investors are watching to see how US retailers will fare as the holiday shopping season kicks off with Black Friday, given growing concerns that spending may slow under pressure from dwindling savings, rising credit card debt, and inflation (More stock market stories.)
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