Wall Street holiday: Nasdaq, NYSE to close early on account of Black Friday; S&P near record-high, up 25% YTD

Traders are closing out a rollercoaster month for assets caused largely by Trump winning a second US presidential election — and also a result of the wars in Ukraine and Gaza.

Markets are tracking in particular developments surrounding Trump’s pledge to hammer China, Canada and Mexico with hefty tariffs on his first day in office in January.

US stock markets opened higher as traders returned from the Thanksgiving break for a half-day session. Stocks rose in early trading as Wall Street puts the finishing touches on one of its best months of the year.

The S&P rose 0.3% while the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 123 points, or 0.3%, as of 9:55 a.m. ET. The Nasdaq added 0.4%.

Friday is an abbreviated trading day — stock markets close at 1 p.m. ET and the bond market closes an hour later.

Investors are waiting to see how willing shoppers are to spend on gifts for the holidays. Black Friday unofficially kicks off the holiday shopping season, although retailers have been offering early deals for weeks. Macy’s rose 0.5%, Target gained 1.6% while Abercrombie & Fitch fell 1%.

In Asia on Friday, forecast-busting consumer prices out of Tokyo boosted talk of another Japanese interest-rate hike next month, in turn sending the yen strengthening one percent against the dollar.

Consumer prices in Tokyo — seen as a bellwether for Japan as a whole — jumped to 2.6 percent in November, well up from October and much more than expected.

The Bank of Japan has hiked interest rates twice this year, while the yen was being supported also by forecasts that the Federal Reserve will lower US rates at its December meeting.

The stronger yen Friday weighed on Japanese exporters, causing the Tokyo stock market to close lower.

Hong Kong and Shanghai gained after Chinese authorities held a meeting to discuss plans to boost stunted consumption in China — a key goal for Beijing as it looks to kickstart the world’s number two economy.

The S&P 500 has risen more than 5% this month, boosted by Tesla and other stocks that received a boost from Donald Trump’s win in the presidential election. Discover Financials leads a list of financials stocks having a good November, up 1.3% Friday and 26% for the month as investors believe the credit card company’s merger with Capital One has a greater chance of going through under Trump.

Tesla shares rose 0.8% Friday and have gained more than 33% since Election Day. The electric vehicle maker is expected to benefit from CEO Elon Musk’s support of Trump.

Musk also gave a boost to Hasbro shares after he triggered takeover speculation when he asked in a post on X how much the toy and game company was worth. Hasbro, which owns the role-playing game Dungeon & Dragons, rose 3.6%.

Bond yields fell, with the yield on the 10-year Treasury slipping to 4.2%.

Global markets mostly fell. Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 index fell 0.4% after the government reported that inflation in Tokyo, considered an indicator for national trends, was 2.6% in November, up from 1.8% last month mainly due to a surge in fresh food prices.

Chinese markets advanced. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index gained 0.3%. Meanwhile, the Shanghai Composite index rose 0.9%. Gains in retailers’ stocks drove market gains after a two-day meeting in Beijing focused on promoting consumption ended on Thursday.