By Anora Mahmudova and Carla Mozee, MarketWatch
Friday's a short trading day; Target upbeat on Black Friday
U.S. stock futures struggled to stay in positive territory
Friday, as investors get ready for a shortened post-holiday
session. The main indexes were on track to finish the
holiday-shortened week roughly where they started.
Futures climbed in early trade, shrugging off a plunge in
Chinese stocks, but were trading near the flat line shortly before
the opening bell.
Futures for the S&P 500 were flat at 2,087 and those for the
Nasdaq-100 picked up 9 points, or 0.2%, to 4,686. Futures of the
Dow Jones Industrial Average were off by 26 points at 17,777.
Markets seemed largely unrattled by a rout on the Shanghai
Composite Index Friday, which came after Chinese stock regulators
launched investigations
(http://www.wsj.com/articles/citic-securities-probed-by-chinas-stock-market-regulator-1448537277)
into two major Chinese brokerages over suspected violations of
securities rules.
Meanwhile, investors shifted their focus on retailers' Black
Friday sales report. Shoppers were hitting their computers on
Thanksgiving, spending 22% more than they did last year
(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/more-than-1b-spent-online-on-thanksgiving-day-2015-11-27),
according to Adobe Digital Index.
Before the Thanksgiving break, U.S. stocks closed mixed in
Wednesday's thinly-traded session
(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/us-stock-futures-rise-as-wall-street-focuses-on-data-not-global-tensions-2015-11-25).
The S&P 500 fell less than 1 point to 2,088.87. The Dow
industrials edged up 1.2 points to 17,813.39, and the Nasdaq rose
0.3% to 5,116.14.
For the abbreviated week, the Dow was on track to rise 0.9%, and
the S&P 500 was in line for a 0.5% advance. The Nasdaq looks
like it may fare better, with a 1.2% rise.
Light session: Trading volumes are expected to be light, as
markets are only open for a half day
(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/when-do-markets-close-around-thanksgiving-2015-11-23)
after the closure for Thanksgiving Day holiday on Thursday. Typical
volume on a Thanksgiving Friday is three standard deviations below
the three-month average over the last 20 years, according to
Bespoke Investment Group.
The New York Stock Exchange and the Nasdaq will close at 1 p.m.
Eastern Time, while the Securities Industry and Financial Markets
Association is recommending a 2 p.m. Eastern closure for the bond
market.
No economic data are slated for release.
Black Friday: Millions of Americans are expected to hit the
stores or shop online for discounted electronics, clothing and
other items.
Retailers "have swamped newspapers and social media with
advertising. Traders will be waiting to see who is first to report
'record sales' from today's shopping bonanza," said Alastair
McCaig, market analyst at IG, in a note. "As ever, the devil will
be in the detail, and seasoned traders are only too aware that
record sales do not automatically translate into record
profits."
Read: What stock investors should do when Black Friday comes
(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/what-stock-investors-should-do-when-black-friday-comes-2015-11-25)
Early Friday, Target Corp. (TGT) said Apple (AAPL) iPads were
top sellers in stores and online
(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/target-says-it-had-good-start-to-black-friday-weekend-2015-11-27-71032442)
and televisions were selling well in stores. That's helped Target
get off to "a successful start" for Black Friday. Meanwhile,
Wal-Mart Stores Inc
(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/wal-mart-holiday-sales-get-off-to-smooth-start-2015-11-27).
(WMT) said more than 25 million people visited its website and
mobile-phone app ahead its sales launch.
The SPDR S&P Retail exchange-traded fund (XRT) may see some
action Friday.
Read: Black Friday key for retailers after lackluster
third-quarter earnings.
(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/retailers-are-counting-on-black-friday-after-lackluster-third-quarter-earnings-2015-11-25)
Company news: Walt Disney Co. (DIS) shares fell 2% premarket
after the media giant said in a regulatory filing that its ESPN
sports network lost 3 million subscribers
(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/disney-is-losing-espn-subscribers-by-the-millions-2015-11-26)
within one year.
Shares of KaloBios Pharmaceuticals Inc. (KBIO) surged more than
40% premarket. The biotech firm's newly appointed chief executive,
Martin Shkreli, said in a Thanksgiving Day post on Twitter
(https://twitter.com/MartinShkreli/status/669947047345315840) that
he's decided to stop lending out his shares in the company
(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/kalobios-pharma-stock-surges-83-as-ceo-shkreli-says-will-not-lend-stock-to-shorts-2015-11-27)
to those looking to sell it.
Other markets: Elsewhere in Asian trade, Japanese shares slipped
0.3%, after the Nikkei Average reached nearly 20,000 earlier this
week. European stocks , were coming off session lows, but mining
shares were still under additional pressure from disappointing
Chinese economic data.
Oil futures
(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/oil-prices-struggle-as-market-mulls-opec-meeting-2015-11-27)
dropped 2%, heading south ahead of a key OPEC meeting and as supply
worries persist. Gold prices fell 1.4%, and the U.S. dollar index
rose 0.3% to slightly above 100.
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(END) Dow Jones Newswires
November 27, 2015 09:02 ET (14:02 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2015 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.