By Anora Mahmudova and Carla Mozee, MarketWatch

KaloBios jumps as short sellers face squeeze

U.S. stocks ended Friday's short session virtually unchanged, as a selloff in energy stocks triggered by another drop in oil prices was offset by gains in defensive plays such as telecoms, utilities and consumer staples.

The New York Stock Exchange and the Nasdaq closed at 1 p.m. Eastern Time (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/when-do-markets-close-around-thanksgiving-2015-11-23).

"The sideways trade is not surprising as the stock market is fatigued with the news of slowing emerging markets and geopolitical threats flaring up around the world," said Ryan Larson, head of equity trading at RBC Global Asset Management.

The S&P 500 closed up 1.24 points, or less than 0.1% at 2,090.11, with seven of its 10 main sectors finishing in positive territory. The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended 14.90 points, or less than 0.1% lower at 17,798.49. The Nasdaq Composite was gained 11.38 points, or 0.2%, to 5,127.52.

U.S. investors 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.

Black Friday: Despite many headlines surrounding Black Friday sales, retail stocks were largely unaffected.

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. Black Friday online spending (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/black-friday-online-spending-totaled-822-million-between-midnight-and-11-am-2015-11-27) totaled $822 million by 11 a.m.

But analysts at SunTrust called Thanksgiving Day shopping in stores "a bust." (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/thanksgiving-shopping-at-stores-was-a-bust-2015-11-27)

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)

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 its website struggled to handle demand (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/wal-mart-website-struggles-to-handle-demand-for-doorbusters-2015-11-27-11103057) for its "doorbusters."

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."

(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/what-stock-investors-should-do-when-black-friday-comes-2015-11-25)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)

(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/retailers-are-counting-on-black-friday-after-lackluster-third-quarter-earnings-2015-11-25)Company news: Shares of KaloBios Pharmaceuticals Inc. (KBIO) surged 31%. 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. Short sellers were squeezed. (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/kalobios-short-sellers-facing-squeeze-as-ceo-shkreli-says-will-no-longer-lend-stock-2015-11-27)

Walt Disney Co. (DIS) shares fell 3% 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.

Energy companies were among the hardest hit on Friday. Southwestern Energy Company (SWN) fell 7.2%, making it the biggest decliner among the S&P 500 stocks. CONSOL Energy Inc. (CNX) was down 6.5%.

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 2.7% to $41.89, pressured by strong the dollar and concerns over excessive global supply. Gold prices fell 1.3% to settle at $1,056.20 an ounce, and the U.S. dollar index rose 0.3% to slightly above 100.

 

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(END) Dow Jones Newswires

November 27, 2015 13:46 ET (18:46 GMT)

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