S&P 500; US Indexes Fundamental Daily Forecast – Speculators Bet on Strong Christmas Shopping Season

U.S. equity indexes finished the shortened trading week with strong weekly gains. Without any fresh economic news on Friday, traders relied on their speculative instincts and placed bets on a strong holiday shopping season.

In the cash market, the benchmark S&P 500 Index settled at 2602.42, up 5.34 or +0.21%. The blue chip Dow Jones Industrial Average finished at 23557.99, up 31.81 or +0.14% and the tech-based NASDAQ Composite closed at 6888.58, up 21.22 or +0.31%.

The S&P 500 Index closed above 2600.00 for the first time, led by the information technology sector. Macy shares were among the best-performing stocks in the index despite a nationwide computer glitch at their stores.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed near a record closing high, led by Visa.

Amazon gained 2.6 percent to a record. This helped the NASDAQ Composite rise to intraday and closing records.

Traders were watching closely consumer spending numbers on the first few days of the holiday shopping season. Shares of Macy’s, Nordstrom and Kohl’s all closed higher, helping the SPDR S&P Retail exchange-traded fund (XRT) improve.

Despite the shortened trading week due to the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday, the major indexes managed to post solid gains with the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average posting 0.9 percent gains last week, while the NASDAQ Composite rose 1.6 percent for the week.