Stocks opened higher Friday as investors awaited signs of how well retailers might fare during the holiday shopping season.
Friday's shortened session -- the market closes three hours early at 1 p.m. EST -- will cap a volatile Thanksgiving week. On Wednesday, the Dow Jones industrial average and the Standard & Poor's 500 index each fell more than 1.5 percent, with the Dow giving up more than 200 points.
In the first minutes of trading Friday, the Dow rose 88.52, or 0.69 percent, to 12,887.56.
Broader stock indicators also rose. The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 11.41, or 0.81 percent, to 1,428.18, and the Nasdaq composite index rose 18.93, or 0.74 percent, to 2,581.08.
Friday's session could prove more an aberration than a continuation of recent trends. Volume on such holiday-shortened days is often so thin that market watchers dismiss much of what they see. Many of Wall Street's principal players are on vacation.
Friday's gains come after Wednesday's session in which the Dow fell below its August low -- breaching a psychological barrier some investors had hoped would be avoided in the latest pullback. And the S&P's decline Wednesday left the index in negative territory for the year. The news was unwelcome as many
investments such as mutual funds mirror or are measured against the index.
Government bonds fell Friday. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note, which moves inversely to its price, rose to 4.04 percent from 4.01 percent late Wednesday.
The dollar was lower against other major currencies while gold prices rose. With no major economic news scheduled to arrive Friday, investors will be searching for any new insights into the health of the economy, particularly with Black Friday, the unofficial kickoff of the holiday shopping season, under way.
In one bright spot, oil prices, which have hovered near $100 per barrel, pulled back slightly.
Light, sweet crude fell to 5 cents to $97.24 per barrel in premarket electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
A modest drop in energy prices, however, won't erase investors' concerns about how well the overall economy will perform in the coming months amid pressure from a weak U.S. housing market, a deterioration of credit and a weak dollar.
Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by about 4 to 1 on the New York Stock Exchange, where volume came to 666.7 million shares.
The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies rose 7.31, or 0.99 percent, to 747.61.
Overseas, Britain's FTSE 100 rose 1.32 percent, Germany's DAX index rose 0.34 percent, and France's CAC-40 rose 1.58 percent. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index closed up 2.06 percent. Markets in Japan were closed Friday for a holiday.
Friday's shortened session -- the market closes three hours early at 1 p.m. EST -- will cap a volatile Thanksgiving week. On Wednesday, the Dow Jones industrial average and the Standard & Poor's 500 index each fell more than 1.5 percent, with the Dow giving up more than 200 points.
In the first minutes of trading Friday, the Dow rose 88.52, or 0.69 percent, to 12,887.56.
Broader stock indicators also rose. The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 11.41, or 0.81 percent, to 1,428.18, and the Nasdaq composite index rose 18.93, or 0.74 percent, to 2,581.08.
Friday's session could prove more an aberration than a continuation of recent trends. Volume on such holiday-shortened days is often so thin that market watchers dismiss much of what they see. Many of Wall Street's principal players are on vacation.
Friday's gains come after Wednesday's session in which the Dow fell below its August low -- breaching a psychological barrier some investors had hoped would be avoided in the latest pullback. And the S&P's decline Wednesday left the index in negative territory for the year. The news was unwelcome as many
investments such as mutual funds mirror or are measured against the index.
Government bonds fell Friday. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note, which moves inversely to its price, rose to 4.04 percent from 4.01 percent late Wednesday.
The dollar was lower against other major currencies while gold prices rose. With no major economic news scheduled to arrive Friday, investors will be searching for any new insights into the health of the economy, particularly with Black Friday, the unofficial kickoff of the holiday shopping season, under way.
In one bright spot, oil prices, which have hovered near $100 per barrel, pulled back slightly.
Light, sweet crude fell to 5 cents to $97.24 per barrel in premarket electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
A modest drop in energy prices, however, won't erase investors' concerns about how well the overall economy will perform in the coming months amid pressure from a weak U.S. housing market, a deterioration of credit and a weak dollar.
Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by about 4 to 1 on the New York Stock Exchange, where volume came to 666.7 million shares.
The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies rose 7.31, or 0.99 percent, to 747.61.
Overseas, Britain's FTSE 100 rose 1.32 percent, Germany's DAX index rose 0.34 percent, and France's CAC-40 rose 1.58 percent. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index closed up 2.06 percent. Markets in Japan were closed Friday for a holiday.
Supplied by advfn.com
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