Despite having a losing month, the Nasdaq Composite increased on Friday, recording its fifth consecutive day of gains.
The S&P 500 gained 0.54% to close at 6,849.09, while the tech heavy index rose 0.65% to close the day at 23,365.69. The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished at 47,716.42, up 289.30 points, or 0.61%. After the Thanksgiving holiday, Wall Street held a brief trading session on Friday.
"The market is now 80% to 85% certain we're going to get a Federal Reserve rate cut in just a couple of short weeks, so the mood is back to a bit more of a risk on sentiment."
Following its meetings in September and October, the Fed would cut by a quarter percentage point in December for the third time in a row.
Since New York Fed President John Williams stated last week that there was potential for "a further adjustment in the near term to the target range for the federal funds rate," traders have started to increase their expectations for lower rates. Mulberry went on, "It's just confirming that we are in an easing trend and that it will continue into the new year as well."
November's final trading day is Friday. This month, the major averages have been impacted by a decline in tech equities due to uncertainty about the future profitability of AI firms.
The Nasdaq ended a seven month winning streak with an almost 2% monthly decline. Thanks to this week's gains, the S&P 500 and Dow were marginally higher, recording their seventh consecutive winning month.
The Dow was up more than 3% at the end of the week. The Nasdaq Composite surged more than 4% over that time, while the S&P 500 rose by nearly 4%.
According to Adobe Analytics, which monitors visits to U.S. retail websites, Thanksgiving marked a strong beginning to the holiday season.
Customers spent a record $6.4 billion online on Thursday, up 5.3% from the previous year, according to Adobe. The company anticipates that Black Friday spending would increase by 8.3% to $11.7 billion.
The fact that discounts were slightly more than Adobe had anticipated could have played a role in the strong rate of transactions on Thursday.
According to the data provider, computer costs were dropped by an average of 23%, clothes was marked down by 25%, and electronics discounts peaked at 28% off advertised price. According to Adobe, appliances were marked down by 19% and toys by 27%.
According to a statement sent by Vivek Pandya, lead analyst at Adobe Digital Insights, "the size of discounts was the big story on Thanksgiving yesterday, as retailers leaned into delivering great deals to drive consumer demand online." According to Pandya, some consumers made impulsive purchases as a result of the markdowns.
