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

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- U.S. stocks posted a mixed finish in a holiday-shortened session Friday as energy shares got slammed a day after the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries did nothing to alleviate a global supply glut.

The S&P 500 (SPX) ended the day down 5.27 points, or 0.3%, at 2,067.56 after touching an intraday record in early action. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) eked out a gain of 0.49 point to end at 17,828.24, marking another record close. The Nasdaq Composite (RIXF) held on to a 4.31 point increase to end at 4,791.63.

U.S. markets were closed Thursday for the Thanksgiving holiday and trading on Friday wrapped at 1 p.m. Eastern.

"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 delivery (CLF5) extended a rout late in Friday's session, dropping more than $6 to 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 more than 4%, while fellow Dow component Chevron Corp. (CVX) lost 5.4%.

Among other energy shares, Transocean Ltd. (RIG) sank 9.7%, ConocoPhillips (COP) fell 6.7% and Halliburton Co. (HAL) erased nearly 11% of its value.

And it was 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 boosted by the prospect of lower energy prices. Delta Air Lines Inc. (DAL) surged 5.5%, Southwest Airlines Co. (LUV) rose 6.5% and Carnival Corp. (CCL) added 4.8%.

On a monthly basis, the Dow and S&P 500 each added 2.5% in November, while the Nasdaq added 3.5%.

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%, Amazon.com (AMZN) rose 1.5% Macy's Inc. (M) added 2.2%, and Best Buy Co. (BBY) advanced 1.7%.

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).

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