Black Friday Shopping Lifts Tech, Retail Stocks; RiM, Visa, Wal-Mart Up

Bikram Pandey
23 Nov, 2012
New York City

Stocks traded higher on subdued volume and retailers and tech stocks were in focus. Wal-Mart faced worker

[R]11:25 AM New York – Stocks traded higher on subdued volume and retailers and tech stocks were in focus. Wal-Mart faced worker’s protest and attracted 22 million shoppers on Black Friday. Research in Motion soared 17% on the hopes of earlier than expected release of the next version of smartphone.[/R]

U.S. stocks traded higher in short trading session and thin volume as many traders stayed away extended holidays.

After ninety minutes of trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average increased 0.8% or 106.41 to 12,943.30 and the S&P 500 index gained 0.8% or 11.55 to 1,402.59. The tech heavy Nasdaq Composite Index gained 1% or 27.70 to 2,945.29.

For the week, the S&P 500 index gained 1.64% and the Nasdaq index added 1.72%.

The markets are scheduled to close early, at 1 p.m. EST.

Markets in Europe traded fractionally higher as European leaders of 27 nations gather to finalize next seven year budget from 2014.

The sharp division among contributing nations like UK, Germany, Sweden and Holland and receiving nations is likely to trim the budget to $1.3 trillion. Wealthy nations are seeking cost cuts in European officials and reductions in farm subsidies and slower spending growth in infrastructure projects.

In New York trading, Retailers and tech stocks were in focus as shoppers flocked to stores to take advantage of discounts for select items. Several retailers including Wal-Mart Stores, Target and Toys R Us opened stores on Thanksgiving evening and early Friday morning to lure more shoppers to stores.

Retailers are also beefing up their mobile apps and matching prices with online rivals and offering free layaway and shipping.

Wal-Mart attracted more than 22 million shoppers at its stores on Thursday evening, and several large format retailers including Best Buy and Target are indicating higher than expected customer traffic.

In a press release the company said, it experienced the best Black Friday ever and sold 1.8 million towels, 1.3 million televisions, 250,000 bicycles and 1.3 million dolls at stores that opened at 8 p.m. on Thursday.

Several stores also faced worker protests and workers staged a walkout at stores in Miami, Dallas and Kenosha, Wisconsin.

National Retail Federation estimated holiday sales to increase 4.1% this year to $586.1 billion, after rising 5.6% in 2011.

Research in Motion ((RIMM)) soared 13% after the Canada based maker of smart phone said its much delayed BlackBerry 10 model may be released as early as February after a January 30 event.

Visa Inc ((V)) gained 52 cents to a record high of $147.18 on the expectations of higher retail spending this holiday season.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc ((WMT)) gained 82 cents to $69.71 after the early store opening on Thanksgiving attracted 22 million shoppers across all stores in the U.S.

Hewlett Packard ((HPQ)) gained 39 cents, Dell ((DELL)) added 41 cents to $9.47 and Apple Inc ((AAPL)) inched up $5.05 to $566.56.

Amazon.com, Inc ((AMZN)) decreased 53 cents to $237.59 and Target Corp ((TGT)) added 37 cents to $64.09. Best Buy ((BBY)) inched up 3 cents to $11.60.

MAP Pharmaceuticals ((MAPP)) soared 17% or $2.24 to $15.06 after the company said that Food and Drug Administration will review its experimental migraine drug Levadex.