Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, U.S., November 23, 2016. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid
NEW YORK: Wall Street extended its record-setting rally on thin volumes on Black Friday, with the Dow and S&P hitting record highs, helped by gains in retailers at the start of the crucial holiday shopping season.
The stock market will close at 1:00pm ET (1700 GMT).
The holiday shopping season accounts for as much as 40 percent of retailers’ annual sales. But they have been struggling to pull shoppers into stores as people increasingly prefer the convenience of shopping for bargains available online all year long.
Holiday sales are expected to increase 3.6% this year to about US$656bil (RM2.9 trillion), according to the National Retail Federation, while online sales are likely to increase 7%-10% to as much as US$117bil (RM520.2bil).
Online spending on Black Friday alone is expected to surge about 11% to surpass US$3bil for the first time, according to Adobe Digital Insights.
The Dow Jones US retailers index was up 0.32%, led Wal-Mart, up 0.7%, and Home Depot which rose 0.5%. Amazon.com was flat.
However, department store chain operators Macy’s and Kohl’s were the top laggards on the index, falling about 0.5% each amid far from far from overwhelming traffic at brick-and-mortar stores. (For story, click here.)
“Black Friday has now become a hybrid between Black Friday and Cyber Monday and has extended into a whole buying weekend. So this is going to be a good test of the strength of the consumer,” said Adam Sarhan, chief executive at 50 Park Investments.
At 11:25am ET the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 51.91 points, or 0.27%, at 19,135.09. It hit a high of 19,146.22 earlier.
The S&P 500 was up 5.39 points, or 0.24%, at 2,210.11, easing slightly from an all-time high of 2,210.75.
The Nasdaq Composite was up 11.19 points, or 0.21%, at 5,391.76.
Nine of the 11 major S&P sectors were trading higher, led by a 1.58% rise in utilities. The consumer staples index rose 0.8%, giving the biggest boost to the S&P 500.
The energy sector, fell 0.6%, pulled down by a 2.7% drop in oil prices amid uncertainty that the Opec would arrive at a decision to cut production during a meeting next week.
Advancing issues outnumbered decliners on the NYSE by 1,704 to 1,037. On the Nasdaq, 1,388 issues rose and 1,147 fell.
The S&P 500 index showed 37 new 52-week highs and no new lows, while the Nasdaq recorded 194 new highs and nine new lows. - Reuters
* For the update at market close, read US stocks end week at fresh records
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