(Washington) Wall Street ended the week on a positive note, following a shortened session the day after Thanksgiving (holiday), during which trading remained limited.
Posted at 9:44 a.m.
Updated at 5:08 p.m.
The Dow Jones (+0.42%) and broader S&P 500 (+0.56%) both posted new closing records, while the NASDAQ index gained 0.83%.
Stuck between a public holiday (Thanksgiving) and a weekend, Friday’s session – cut by three hours – was marked by a low trading volume.
“It’s one of those days where participation is not very high, but where we don’t see any interest in the sale either,” Patrick O’Hare commented to AFP, from Briefing.com.
“This is a sign of a positive seasonal trend […] and the market is therefore following its cruising speed without any interference for the moment,” added the analyst.
On Friday, investors kept an eye on Black Friday, the day of sales that follows Thanksgiving Thursday and traditionally kicks off the holiday shopping season in the United States .
This edition is marked by a still positive economic context, but the majority of consumers are still feeling the effects of the three years of inflation following the COVID-19 pandemic.
With the competitiveness of online sales, “there is no longer a frenzied rush to Black Friday like in the past,” added Mr. O’Hare.
No economic indicators were expected Friday.
Investors now have their sights set on a new batch of data published next week, including several employment indicators.
Wall Street is also awaiting the publication of the “Beige Book” on Wednesday, a monthly economic report from the regional branches of the American Central Bank (Fed), as well as a speech from its President Jerome Powell on the same day.
On the bond market, the yield on 10-year US government bonds stood at 4.17%, compared to 4.24% at Wednesday’s close.
On the stock market, the semiconductor sector shone, driven by press reports that “the Biden administration could consider easing some of the restrictions” on sales to China.
Nvidia (+2.15%), Broadcom (+1.51%), Qualcomm (+1.36%), Intel (+1.69%) and Marvell Technology (2.87%) all finished higher.
Other large technological capitalizations also stood out, such as Apple (+1.02%), Adobe (+0.44%) or AMD (+0.69%).
Despite the progress of bitcoin, which reached $97,436 around 6:50 p.m. GMT, the cryptocurrency sector finished mixed. Coinbase (-4.75%) and Robinhood (-0.29%) fell, while Riot Platforms (+2.26%) gained ground.
Amazon ended up (+1.05%) as employees of the American online commerce giant announced they were going on strike on Black Friday to demand better working conditions.
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