US stocks flat in short post-holiday session
US stocks ended little changed in holiday-shortened trading on Friday, with low volume and conviction as investors watched the start of the seasonal shopping season for signs of consumer resiliency. The S&P 500 closed nominally higher, while the Dow eked out a modest gain. The Nasdaq was dragged slightly lower by weakness in megacap momentum stocks. All three indexes notched their fourth consecutive weekly gains. "We had mixed macroeconomic data and the post-Thanksgiving session is only half a day, so there aren't that many participants," said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at Spartan Capital Securities in New York. "But we're seeing a market that's on the right path of a year-end rally." Retailers around the world were attempting to attract millions of shoppers, many offering steep "Black Friday" discounts the day after the US Thanksgiving holiday. "Consumers are being very frugal and while they might spend, they're looking for bargains," Cardillo added. "The higher cost of money is hitting consumers' pocketbook." The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.33 percent, to 35,390, the S&P 500 gained 0.06 percent, at 4,559 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 0.11 percent, to 14,251. Nvidia dipped 1.9 percent after Reuters reported a delay in the launch of the company's China-focused AI chip designed to comply with US export rules until the first quarter of 2024. IRobot surged 39 percent in the wake of a report that Amazon is set to win unconditional EU antitrust approval for its US$1.4 billion acquisition of the robot vacuum maker. (Reuters)