Wall Street closes a brief session mixed but continues its fourth week of growth

Wall Street closed this Friday in mixed territory while the Dow Jones, its main indicator, rose 0.33%. It was a shorter session than usual after the Thanksgiving holiday in the United States. At 1:00 p.m. local time in New York (6:00 p.m. GMT) the stock market closed, and the person in charge of ringing the bell was Santa Claus, a symbol of the upward trend of the last five weeks of the year that is known as the “Santa Claus rally.” .

By indices, the Dow Jones rose 0.33%, to 35,390 points, and the selective S&P 500 rose 0.06%, to 4,559 units. The Nasdaq index, in which large technology companies are listed, was the only one in red and rose 0.11%, to 14,251 integers. By sector, gains predominated and were led by health (0.51%) and energy (0.45%) companies, and the only ones to decline were technology (-0.32%) and communications (- 0.32%). Among the 30 Dow Jones stocks, the increases in Johnson & Johnson (1.11%), Disney (1.04%), and Walmart (0.9%) stood out, while the biggest losses were for Apple (-0 .70%) and Nike. (-0.26%).

In other markets, Texas oil fell to $75.94 a barrel, the 10-year bond yield rose to 4.474%, gold rose to $2.001 an ounce and the dollar weakened against the euro, with a change of 1.0941.

Attentive to consumption

The stock market ends this week with accumulated gains despite the little movement today and the closing of the markets yesterday. Investors are watching the evolution of several days of high consumption in the US, from today’s Black Friday to Cyber ​​Monday, as a measure of the health of demand and the economy in general.

The National Retail Federation’s forecasts, covering November and December, showed more moderate sales growth compared to previous years, of 3 to 4%. Consumers have been adjusting their budgets for inflation for some time, and establishments are trying to attract purchases by offering discounts even since August and beyond this weekend.

Added to these changes in consumer and retailer behavior is the unstoppable popularity of the internet as a purchasing platform compared to physical stores.