As Americans shop, stocks see another weekly win

Stocks were mixed on Friday in a holiday-shortened day of trading, but the major averages managed to end the week higher. 

Analysts appear to be bullish about the five weeks of trading left in 2023, hoping holiday sales will lift retailers as tech churns along and energy prices soften. 

The Dow Jones Industrial Average managed a 117-point gain, or 0.3%, to 35,390.15. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index added 2.7 points to 4559.34. The Nasdaq Composite Index slipped 15 points to 14,250.85. 

For the week, the Dow was up 1.3%, with the S&P 500 adding 1% and the Nasdaq rising 0.9%. Since October 30 when stocks bottomed after a pullback from highs last summer, the Dow is up 7.1%. The S&P has risen 8.7%, and the Nasdaq has jumped nearly 11%. 

Johnson & Johnson  (JNJ) - Get Free Report was the Dow winner, up 1.1%. Only three Dow stocks were lower: Apple  (AAPL) - Get Free Report, down 0.7%; Nike  (NKE) - Get Free Report, down 0.3%, and Microsoft  (MSFT) - Get Free Report, off 0.1%. 

Chipmaker Nvidia  (NVDA) - Get Free Report was the biggest loser among stocks in the Nasdaq-100 Index. The chipmaker, which makes chips used in artificial intelligence applications, was off 1.9% to $477.76. The shares have fallen 5.5% since Nov. 21. Reports on Friday said Nvidia may delay the launch of an AI chip designed for customers in China until early next year. 

The Nasdaq-100 was off 19 points, or 0.1%, to 15,982. After a weekly gain of 2.9%, the index is up a whopping 46% on the year.

Markets historically are open for a short day after Thanksgiving, a nod to the fact that many Americans are out shopping for the holidays. 

Around 182 million Americans are expected to make online or in-store purchases between Black Friday and Cyber Monday – including 130.7 million today along – according to the National Retail Federation, although fading pandemic-era savings, the resumption of student loan payments and elevated inflation is likely to cap spending growth at the slowest pace in five years.

Still, consumers are likely to spend between $957.3 billion and $966.6 billion in November and December, according to NRF forecasts, providing a valuable shot-in-the-arm for the broader U.S. economy, which relies on spending services for around two-thirds of its growth, that should push recession forecasts deeper into the coming year.

Retail stocks were up generally on the day. The SPDR S&P Retail exchange-traded fund  (XRT) - Get Free Report rose 0.7% to $63.89. Walmart  (WMT) - Get Free Report, Target  (TGT) - Get Free Report, Macy's  (M) - Get Free Report, and Amazon.com  (AMZN) - Get Free Report were all higher.

Interest rates moved up slightly, with the 10-year Treasury yield at 4.47%. Oil prices were lower again. West Texas Intermediate finished at $75.54, down $1.56. The AAA National Average gasoline price was off slightly at $3.265 a gallon. It is off in 65 of the last 67 days. 

 Europe's Stoxx 600 was marked 0.28% higher in mid-day Frankfurt trading following data from Germany confirming that the region's largest economy contracted by 0.01% over the three months ending in October and raising the prospect of recession early  next year.

In Asia, stocks were mixed with the MSCI ex-Japan benchmark falling 0.8% thanks to a pullback across markets in China while the Nikkei 225 closed at a four-month high of 33,625.53 points. 

Early reporting from Martin Baccardax was included in this report.