Stocks posted solid gains as Wall Street finalized its best monthly performance of the year.
The S&P 500 rose 0.6% while the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.4%. Both indices closed November with their best monthly performances of the year. The Nasdaq added 0.8%.
it was friday one short trading dayStocks close at 1 p.m. ET and the bond market closes an hour later.
Investors were looking to see how much shoppers were willing to spend on gifts for the holidays, as buyers had forecast Expenditure records can be broken In 2024, the typical consumer is expected to spend more than $1,000, an increase of 14% from last year. Black Friday unofficially kicks off the holiday shopping season, although retailers have been offering early deals for several weeks.
Macy's and Best Buy each rose about 2%, while Apple gained 1.1%. The technology giant is hoping that the recently added artificial intelligence features are enough to entice consumers to give themselves or their relatives a new iPhone for the holidays.
“Black Friday officially marks the beginning of an important holiday season for Apple as its flagship iPhone 16 begins its Apple Intelligence launch with the release of 18.2 next week,” Wedbush analyst Dan Ives wrote in a Nov. 29 research note. represents.”
He added, “Our view is that Apple's AI rollout over the next few months will usher in a new era for Cupertino as developers will eventually build hundreds of AI-powered apps on top of the building blocks of Apple Intelligence.”
Dow and S&P 500 in November
The Dow rose 7.5% in November, its best month of 2024. Walt Disney Co. had the biggest percentage gain this month, up 22.1%, but the value-weighted index also got a boost from Goldman Sachs, which rose 17.5%. $608.57 and Salesforce, up more than 13% to $329.99.
The S&P 500 rose 5.7% this month, driven by Tesla and other stocks that got a boost from Donald Trump's victory in the presidential election.
Discover Financial Services leads the list of financial stocks that had a good November, rising nearly 23% on the month despite a slight loss on Friday. Investors believe the credit card company's merger with Capital One is more likely to happen under the Trump administration and that the financial services industry overall faces less restrictive oversight.
Tesla shares rose 3.7% on Friday and posted a monthly gain of more than 38%. The electric vehicle maker is expected to benefit from Trump's support for CEO Elon Musk.
Hasbro's shares also got a boost after Musk started acquisition speculation when he asked in a post on X how much the toy and game company was worth. Hasbro, which owns the role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons, rose 2%.
Bond yields declined, with the yield on the 10-year Treasury falling to 4.19%.
Bitcoin ends month near $100,000
Bitcoin, which recently reached $100,000 before falling back, briefly rose above $98,000 but was recently trading around $97,300.
Global markets mostly fell. Tokyo's Nikkei 225 index fell 0.4% after the government reported inflation in Tokyo, considered an indicator for national trends, was 2.6% in November, up from 1.8% the previous month, driven mainly by fresh food prices. Due to increase.
China's markets advanced. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index rose 0.3%. Meanwhile, the Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.9%. Shares in retailers boosted markets after a two-day meeting focused on boosting consumption in Beijing ended on Thursday.