U.S. Stocks Extend Pre-Holiday Rally, Close Higher For Fifth Straight Session

(RTTNews) - With traders returning to their desks following the Thanksgiving Day holiday on Thursday, stocks extended their pre-holiday rally during trading on Friday. The major averages all moved to the upside on the day, closing higher for the fifth consecutive session.

The major averages ended the day just off their highs of the session. The Dow climbed 289.30 points or 0.6 percent to 47,716.42, the Nasdaq advanced 151.00 points or 0.7 percent to 23,365.69 and the S&P 500 rose 36.48 points or 0.5 percent to 6,849.09.

For the holiday-interrupted week, the Nasdaq spiked by 4.9 percent, the S&P 500 surged by 3.7 percent and the Dow jumped by 3.2 percent.

With the rally over the past several days, the Dow rose by 0.3 percent for the month of November and the S&P 500 crept up by 0.1 percent.

The Nasdaq still slumped by 1.5 percent for the month, although the tech-heavy Nasdaq had plunged by as much as 7.7 percent at its worst levels last Friday.

The recent advance has helped the major averages climb well off their recent lows, as traders seemingly shrug off short-lived concerns about valuations.

Renewed optimism about the outlook for interest rates has contributed to the recent rebound following dovish comments from leading Federal Reserve officials.

While concerns the Fed may interest rates unchanged next month contributed to a pullback by stocks earlier this month, CME Group's FedWatch Tool is currently indicating an 86.9 percent chance the central bank will cut rates by another quarter point at its December meeting.

Trading activity remained somewhat subdued, however, as some traders likely remained away from their desks following the holiday.

A trading disruption at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange earlier in the day along with an early close on Wall Street may also have kept some traders on the sidelines along with a lack of major U.S. economic data.

Sector News

Computer hardware stocks turned in some of the market's best performances on the day, with the NYSE Arca Computer Hardware Index surging by 2.5 percent.

Shares of SanDisk (SNDK) spiked by 3.8 percent as the storage company joined the S&P 500 before the start of the day's trading.

A sharp increase by the price of gold also contributed to significant strength among gold stocks, as reflected by the 2.1 percent jump by the NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index.

Semiconductor, energy and software stocks also saw notable strength on the day, while some weakness was visible among pharmaceutical stocks.

Other Markets

In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region turned in a mixed performance on Friday. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index and China's Shanghai Composite Index rose by 0.2 percent and 0.3 percent, respectively, while South Korea's Kospi slumped by 1.5 percent.

Meanwhile, the major European markets all moved to the upside on the day. The German DAX Index, the French CAC 40 Index and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index all rose by 0.3 percent.

In the bond market, treasuries have moved lower after ending the previous session roughly flat. As a result, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, is up by 2.3 basis points at 4.021 percent.

Looking Ahead

Next week's trading may be impacted by reaction to the latest U.S. economic data, including reports on manufacturing and service sector activity and private sector employment.