Stocks looked set to gain in a shortened Black Friday session on the last trading day of what has been a momentous month.
Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 147 points, or 0.3%. Contracts tied to the S&P 500 also rose 0.3%, and Nasdaq futures were up 0.4%.
While retailers gear up for Black Friday, the biggest shopping day of the year, investors won’t have much news to digest, and markets will close at 1 p.m. But it’s also the last trading day of the month and could set the tone for how stocks fare in December after the S&P already gained 26% since Jan. 1.
“Retail stocks will be on traders’ minds today as shoppers trawl the aisles and their screens for Black Friday bargains,” said Derren Nathan at Hargreaves Lansdown. So far, trading is “reflecting broad indications that the American economy still has plenty to be thankful for.”
Shares finished lower on Wednesday, led by a selloff in big technology companies. That could be a result of traders locking in stock gains, known as profit taking. And, in fact, some tech stocks were the leading risers before the market opened. Take-Two Interactive was up 6.8%, and Nvidia was also rising.
It’s been a busy month–Donald Trump won the presidential election and the Federal Reserve lowered interest rates. Trump’s victory gave stocks a boost with an agenda of lowering taxes and relaxing regulations. The latest figures for the Fed’s preferred inflation index weren’t surprising, keeping the central bank on track to cut by another quarter point in December.
Airline stocks may be the ones to watch on Friday as travel picks up. The start of Thanksgiving saw a 5% jump in passengers from a year ago.
Bond yields are lower. The yield on the 10 year Treasury was at 4.229%, down from more than 4.4% at the start of the week. The two-year yield was at 4.217%, compared with 4.358% on Monday.