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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