US stocks, crude oil extend declines as Black Friday shoppers spend big
U.S. stocks fell Friday, led by weaker tech company shares, and crude oil prices extended their slump while retailers handled the annual Black Friday shopping spree.
Crude oil prices plummeted approximately 6 percent to their lowest levels this year on continued concerns about a global oversupply. However, the price decline gave a boost to airline stocks on prospects of lower fuel costs.
Tech stocks led the broader market's decline, with Facebook and Apple falling more than 2 percent.
The day's equity trading session marked the largest two-week point and percentage decline since the week ending March 23, 2018.
The number of transactions was light -- it was the lowest volume day this year -- as millions of Americans spent Black Friday taking advantage of some of the massive sales deals offered on one of the biggest shopping days of the year.
A report by Adobe Analytics released Friday found that customers using their smartphones spent upwards of $1 billion this year, up 8 percent from last year.
| Ticker | Security | Last | Change | Change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| I:DJI | DOW JONES AVERAGES | 37986.4 | +211.02 | +0.56% |
| SP500 | S&P 500 | 4967.23 | -43.89 | -0.88% |
| I:COMP | NASDAQ COMPOSITE INDEX | 15282.009722 | -319.49 | -2.05% |
Major retailers' shares were mixed with eBay and Overstock.com rising and Target and Macy's falling. Despite Macy's shares declining, CEO Jeff Genette expressed optimism about holiday shopping to The Wall Street Journal.
"It started early online and when the stores opened yesterday evening, we saw strong traffic and people are buying," he said.
On Wednesday, technology and other fast-growing stocks rebounded, halting a stock market selloff that has left investors on edge as to whether the longest bull market ever can regain its step.
| Ticker | Security | Last | Change | Change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| FB | n.a. | n.a. | n.a. | n.a. |
| AAPL | APPLE INC. | 165.00 | -2.04 | -1.22% |
| GOOGL | ALPHABET INC. | 154.09 | -1.92 | -1.23% |
| NFLX | NETFLIX INC. | 555.04 | -55.52 | -9.09% |
| AMZN | AMAZON.COM INC. | 174.63 | -4.59 | -2.56% |
The S&P 500 rose 8.04 points, or 0.3 percent, to 2649.93 to snap a two-day losing streak, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite gained 63.43 points, or 0.9 percent, to 6972.25, its first advance in four trading sessions. The Dow Jones Industrial Average, meanwhile, ended the day flat, falling less than a point to 24464.69.
Shanghai stocks fell the most in five weeks on Friday amid worries over China's economic growth and doubts over chances of President Xi Jinping and President Trump achieving a de-escalation in the Sino-U.S. trade war when they meet next week.
Shanghai Composite Index slumped 2.5 percent. Hong Kong's Hang Seng was down 0.6 percent. Japan’s markets were closed for a holiday.
In Europe, London’s FTSE traded lower by 0.1 percent, Germany’s DAX rose 0.2 percent and France’s CAC added 0.1 percent.