S&P 500 closes above 2,600
NEW YORK — U.S. stocks set more records in quiet post-holiday trading Friday as technology companies again did much of the heavy lifting. Energy companies rose with the price of oil.
Macy’s and some of its retail counterparts rose after the department store’s CEO said Black Friday sales were going well. Online titan Amazon made an even bigger gain. Oil prices and energy companies rose after Bloomberg reported that a group of key oil producers plans to extend production cuts until the end of 2018.
“If you take the cumulative effect of online and foot traffic going into the stores, it’s showing you a robust consumer spending pattern,” said Quincy Krosby, chief market strategist at Prudential Financial.
The Standard & Poor’s 500 index rose 5.34 points to 2,602.42, its first close above 2,600.
Friday’s trading ended early after the Thanksgiving holiday on Thursday.
Macy’s CEO Jeffrey Gennette said holiday shopping is off to a good start with relatively few discounts and strong sales of some especially profitable products like winter clothing. Macy’s gained 2.1 percent to $21.07, and other department stores climbed as well.
Experts are mostly predicting strong sales over the holiday period because of increased consumer confidence and a very low unemployment rate. The National Retail Federation trade group expects sales to grow at least as fast as they did last year. Big retailers like Walmart and Urban Outfitters and Gap have also reported strong quarterly results recently.
Amazon, along with tech giants Apple, Facebook, Microsoft and Google’s parent company, Alphabet, have played a huge role in the market’s gains this year. Those five companies combined are responsible for more than one-fourth of the value the S&P 500 has gained this year.