The major indexes closed modestly higher Friday, yet made enough gains to record fresh highs in the conclusion of a Thanksgiving-shortened week.
X The Nasdaq composite added 0.3% for its fourth consecutive gain, while the S&P 500 rose 0.2%. Both inched up to new highs and notched gains of 1.5% and 0.9% for the week.
Small caps performed in line with the main indexes, as the Russell 2000 finished 0.2% higher.
The stock market closed three hours early, as it usually does on the Friday after Thanksgiving. Volume, thus, was considerably lower than on Wednesday. Advancers led decliners by 8-to-5 on the NYSE and by nearly 9-to-7 on the Nasdaq.
The Dow Jones industrial average rose 0.1%, with most of the 30 components closing higher. Dow components Exxon Mobil (XOM) and Chevron (CVX) gained 0.5% as the price of oil climbed 85 cents to $58.87, around a two-year high. The U.S. Oil Fund (USO), an ETF that tracks crude prices, rose past the 11.73 buy point of a large cup-with-handle base.
With many analysts expected a good holiday shopping season, retail stocks were among Friday's leaders. Department stores, consumer electronics, apparel chains and online retailers were in the top 10 of 197 industry groups. Except for internet sellers, most retail groups remain market laggards.
Amazon.com (AMZN) added 2.6% to reach a new high. The largest online retailer is extended from a breakout at 1,083.41. The latest base was late stage and in some ways flawed. Yet, the company's fundamentals and strong market presence has overcome those obstacles.
Amazon is part of IBD Leaderboard, joining the list on Feb. 1 and again on March 29.
Some retail areas remain depressed. Office supply, drugstores, jewelry, auto parts and discount retailers were among the 20 weakest groups of the day.
The shortened session made it difficult to find any breakouts Friday, and any that happened were suspect because of the light trading.
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