Technology stocks led the S&P 500 and Nasdaq to record closing highs on Friday, with the S&P ending above 2,600 points for the first time.
The S&P 500 and the blue-chip Dow Jones industrials posted weekly gains for the first time in three weeks while the Nasdaq Composite posted its best weekly performance since the week to Sept. 1.
The stock market had a half session on what is known as Black Friday, the day after the Thanksgiving holiday and the unofficial start of the US holiday shopping season, according to Reuters.
Macy’s closed up 2.1 per cent at $21.07. Kohl’s, Gap and JC Penney were up between 0.6 per cent and 1.6 per cent.
The Dow rose 31.81 points, or 0.14 per cent, to 23,557.99, while the S&P gained 5.34 points, or 0.21 per cent, to 2,602.42. The Nasdaq added 21.80 points, or 0.32 per cent, to 6,889.16.
US oil prices CLc1 jumped to a more than two-year high as North American markets tightened on the partial closure of a key pipeline linking Canada and the United States.
About 2.78 billion shares changed hands in US exchanges in the shortened session.
The daily average over the last 20 full sessions is 6.48 billion shares. Last year, volume during the session after Thanksgiving was 3 billion shares.
Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by a 1.61-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.31-to-1 ratio favoured advancers.
The S&P posted 35 new 52-week highs and one new low; the Nasdaq recorded 120 new highs and 21 new lows.
