Stocks opened Friday in positive territory and stayed there through the early close. Volume was understandably light on Black Friday, but those who did show up for the abbreviated session were in the mood to buy tech stocks, with that sector handily outperforming.
The bulk of the gains for the technology sector came from semiconductor stocks. The group rallied after a Bloomberg report suggested the Biden administration may impose sanctions on sales of semiconductor equipment and artificial intelligence (AI) memory chips to China that are not as restrictive as previously proposed.
Chip equipment maker Lam Research (LRCX, +3.2%) found itself near the top of the S&P 500 today, followed closely by KLA Corporation (KLAC, +2.4%).
U.S. online holiday sales expected to hit records this year
Retailers Amazon.com (AMZN) and Walmart (WMT) also closed higher, climbing 1.1% and 0.7%, respectively, on the year's biggest shopping day.
Adobe Analytics estimates consumers will spend a record $10.8 billion in online sales this Black Friday, up 9.9% year over year. Cyber Monday online sales are expected to rise 6.1% to $13.2 billion. For the entire holiday season, Adobe anticipates U.S. online sales to reach $240.8 billion, an 8.4% increase over the year prior.
Amazon is the undisputed e-commerce leader, but Walmart is closing the gap. In its most recently reported quarter, the retail giant reported a 27% year-over-year increase in global e-commerce sales.
"WMT is scaling its investments in tech and e-commerce, and continued price investment has positioned it for future share gains," said Jefferies analyst Corey Tarlowe (Buy) in a November 15 note. "Overall, we expect WMT to command an increasingly large share of customer spending through bolstered omnichannel capabilities, partnerships, and services. This justifies above-historical-average growth."
As for the main indexes, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.4% to 44,910, the S&P 500 added 0.6% to 6,032, and the Nasdaq Composite climbed 0.8% to 19,218. All three benchmarks finished the week and month higher, with the Dow and S&P 500 notching their best monthly performances since November 2023.
Stocks tend to do well in December
History suggests the stock market is in store for even more upside in the final few weeks of 2024. Indeed, December tends to be one of the best for stock returns.
According to Yardeni Research, the S&P 500 has averaged a 1.31% gain in December since 1928 – falling behind just April (+1.32%) and July (1.70%).
