Stocks gain in shortened session
New York ? Stocks rose as investors capped a capricious week by engaging in a bit of Black Friday bargain hunting while awaiting word of how retailers might fare during what is expected to be a tough holiday shopping season.
Friday’s holiday-shortened session ended three hours early and followed fractious trading that on Wednesday saw the Dow Jones industrial average and the Standard & Poor’s 500 index give up more than 1.5 percent. The S&P’s climb Friday put the index back into positive territory for the year.
The day’s gains weren’t enough to reverse losses for the week, however, and observers cautioned the session could prove more an aberration than a reversal of recent trends. With many of Wall Street’s principal players on vacation, volume was light as is typical on such days.
“While I’d love to celebrate this rally, it is on very thin volume and we have to really wait until next week to get a sense of the true direction of this market,” said Jack Ablin, chief investment officer at Harris Private Bank in Chicago.
The Dow rose 181.84, or 1.42 percent, to 12,980.88, finishing at the highs of the session rather than losing steam in the final minutes as has occurred often in recent weeks.
Broader stock indicators also rose. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index advanced 23.93, or 1.69 percent, to 1,440.70, and the Nasdaq composite index rose 34.45, or 1.34 percent, to 2,596.60.
For the week, the Dow lost 1.49 percent, the S&P slid 1.24 percent and the Nasdaq gave up 1.54 percent.
On Friday, the dollar was lower against other major currencies, while gold prices rose.
Oil prices, which flirted with $100 per barrel earlier in the week, gained as heating oil rose amid concerns about tightening supplies. Light, sweet crude for January delivery advanced 89 cents to settle at $98.18 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Friday’s advance comes after the S&P 500 on Wednesday slipped into negative territory for the year – unwelcome news because many investments such as mutual funds mirror the index. By Friday, however, the S&P had rebounded and was up 1.58 percent for the year.