Investing.com – The S&P and Nasdaq hit record highs on Friday, as Black Friday deals kicked off the day after markets were closed for the Thanksgiving holiday.
The S&P 500 rose five points or 0.21% as of 10:54 AM ET (3:54 PM GMT) while the Dow composite increased 51 points or 0.22%. Tech heavy NASDAQ Composite inched forward 13 points or 0.20%.
Retail stores were among the biggest gainers on Black Friday, which is one of the busiest days of the year for retailers. JC Penney Company Inc Holding (NYSE:JCP)surged 1.85%, Gap Inc (NYSE:GPS) increased 1.92% and Wal-Mart Stores Inc (NYSE:WMT) gained 0.38%. Meanwhile online retailer Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) rose 1.89% while Macy’s Inc (NYSE:M) jumped 4.50%.
Elsewhere streaming site Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) was down 0.42% while eBay Inc (NASDAQ:EBAY) fell 0.57% and Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) slipped 0.11%.
Stock market trading is likely to be thin on Friday, as many markets close early after being closed on Thursday for the U.S. holiday.
In economic news, U.S. business activity hit a four month low in November, market research group IHS Markit reported. Its composite purchasing managers’ index (PMI), fell to to 54.6 from the prior reading of 55.2.
Stocks in Europe were mixed. In Germany the DAX surged 51 points or 0.39% while France’s CAC 40 increased 14 points or 0.27% and in London the FTSE 100 fell six points or 0.08%. Spain’s IBEX 35 rose 18 points or 0.18%. Meanwhile the pan-European Euro Stoxx 50 was up 11 points or 0.31%.
In commodities, gold futures slipped 0.28% to $1,288.39 a troy ounce while crude oil futures gained 1.07% to 58.64 a barrel. The U.S dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, fell 0.42% to 92.66.