Equities Rally on ‘Black Friday’
The major indexes jumped across the board, boosted mostly by positive retail
sentiments. Today is known as “Black Friday,” and is generally considered to be
one of the busiest days of the year for retail shopping. Stores and malls across
the country have prepared for scores of holiday shoppers, all eagerly
anticipating so-called bargains.
Whether or not Black Friday will accurately predict the final economic
moments of 2007 for the U.S., today was a positive day for the markets.
Retailers led the way, with Target
(
TGT |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) and Macy’s
(
M |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) both
closing higher by more than 5%.
The financial sector also managed a rebound, following a tough week.
Lehman Brothers
(
LEH |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) rose just under 5%, while Bear Stearns
(
BSC |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
jumped over 3%.
Despite an up day in the equity markets, many traders had the day off today,
and volume was light on account of the half day. Many are waiting to see what
happens on Monday, and into next week, which will see a number of key economic
reports from the U.S.
The dollar hit fresh lows against the euro today, and crude also inched back
towards all-time records nearing $100 a barrel.
| Market Snapshot | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
Strongest/Weakest Industry Groups |
||||||||||||||||
|
Economic News |
|
|