By William Watts and Sara Sjolin, MarketWatch Retailers rise as holiday shopping season gets under way

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Energy stocks dropped sharply Friday a day after the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries did nothing to alleviate a global supply glut, while the transportation and retail sectors jumped.

The S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average are on track to finish at or just off record levels in a holiday-abbreviated session that also marks the last trading day of the month.

The S&P 500 (SPX) continues to bounce between small gains and losses after touching an intraday record in early action. The index changed hands in recent action at 2,070.75, a loss of 2.08 points, or 0.1%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) rose 0.3% to 17,875.98, leaving it on track for another record close. The Nasdaq Composite (RIXF) rose 0.3% to 4,800.98.

U.S. markets were closed Thursday for the Thanksgiving holiday. U.S. stock and bond markets close early on Friday.

"With Black Friday upon us, investors are in the mood for some early festive cheer. However, as November draws to a close investors will reflect on what has been a difficult month with falling oil prices and artificially inflated equities on the promise of more central bank intervention," said Mike McCudden, head of derivatives at Interactive Investor in London.

Crude oil for January (CLF5) shaved off more than $5 from Wednesday's settlement price to trade at $68.11 a barrel after hitting its lowest point in more than 4 1/2 years. U.S. crude oil didn't settle on Thursday due to Thanksgiving, but OPEC's decision to maintain its current production ceiling of 30 million barrels a day does little to remove the glut that is keeping oil prices low.

Among major stock movers, Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) lost 3.9%, while fellow Dow component Chevron Corp. (CVX) dropped more than 5%.

Among other energy shares, Transocean Ltd. (RIG) sank 9.8%, ConocoPhillips (COP) fell 6.8% and Halliburton Co. (HAL) erased more than 11% of its value.

And it's a particularly brutal day for U.S. shale companies, with several posting double-digit percentage declines. See: 10 U.S. shale-oil stocks getting crushed the most today.

In Europe, the picture was the same, with oil heavyweights such as BP PLC (BP) and Total SA (TOT) posting big losses..

On the flip side, transportation companies were getting a lift from the prospect of lower energy prices. Delta Air Lines Inc. (DAL) surged 6.4%, Southwest Airlines Co. (LUV) rose 6.5% and Carnival Corp. (CCL) added 4.5%.

Leading up to the holiday, the S&P 500 (SPX) and Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) scored their 47th and 30th record closes this year, respectively, on Wednesday.

Black Friday frenzy: Retailers were in the spotlight during early Friday, as shops opened the doors for their annual Black Friday sales (with some having opened late Thursday). Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT) advanced 3.3%, Amazon.com (AMZN) rose 2% Macy's Inc. (M) added 2.4%, and Best Buy Co. (BBY) advanced 2.1%.

Wal-Mart reported early Friday that Thanksgiving Day delivered its second-highest online sales day ever, topped only by Cyber Monday last year.

Other markets: European stocks were mired in the red, with energy companies pulling the major benchmarks lower. Asian markets closed mostly higher.

Metals prices (GCG5) showed weakness, hurt by a rise in the dollar (DXY).

Subscribe to WSJ: http://online.wsj.com?mod=djnwires