(Updates with late U.S. markets)
By Chris Reese
NEW YORK, Nov 23 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks climbed on
Friday, led by retailers as the holiday shopping season kicked
off in earnest, while oil prices rose slightly and the dollar
recovered from record lows.
Trading was anemic, however, in abbreviated market
sessions in the U.S. the day after the Thanksgiving Day
holiday and with Japanese markets closed for a holiday.
Retailers such as Target <TGT.N> helped push stocks higher
as consumers, many with the day off of work, loaded up their
shopping carts during "Black Friday" -- the name for the day
after Thanksgiving when many retailers once turned a profit
and went into the black for the year.
The Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> closed up 181.84
points, or 1.42 percent, at 12,980.88, while the Standard &
Poor's 500 Index <.SPX> ended up 23.93 points, or 1.69
percent, at 1,440.70. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.IXIC>
settled up 34.45 points, or 1.34 percent, at 2,596.60.
Earlier in the day, the FTSEurofirst 300 index <.FTEU3> of
top European shares shot up 1.52 percent, or 22.13 points, to
close at 1,476.16, after a gain of 0.7 percent on Thursday.
DOLLAR OFF LOWS VS THE EURO
The dollar was little changed after hitting various new
lows early on Friday and briefly coming close to $1.50 to the
euro as concerns about the U.S. economy rattled investors.
The dollar was down against a basket of major
trading-partner currencies, with the U.S. Dollar Index <.DXY>
down 0.04 percent at 75.04 from a previous session close of
75.073.
The euro <EUR=> was down 0.13 percent at $1.4833 from a
previous session close of $1.4853. Against the Japanese yen,
the dollar <JPY=> was down 0.34 percent at 108.15 yen from a
previous session close of 108.52.
A gloomy prognosis for the euro zone from a European
Central Bank member toppled the euro well off its high of
$1.4966, a new record.
Bank of Spain Governor and European Central Bank council
member Miguel Angel Fernandez Ordonez said while there were
some medium-term inflation risks in the euro zone, world
financial turmoil threatened a stronger-than-expected
slowdown.
"The comments reemphasize that while the market has been
preoccupied with U.S. economic weakness, the U.S. is not alone
in suffering and the euro zone will struggle or at least
decelerate next year as well," said Jeremy Stretch, market
strategist at Rabobank.
SHORTER-DATED BONDS EDGE LOWER
U.S. government debt traded mixed, with the short end of
the market taking cues from higher stocks. The 2-year note
<US2YT=RR> was down 3/32 in price for a yield of 3.08 percent,
while the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury note <US10YT=RR> was
up 3/32, with the yield at 4.01 percent.
The U.S. Treasury market and the U.S. stock market were
closed on Thursday for Thanksgiving.
Some analysts were wondering whether a recent bond rally,
driven by fears of further fallout among financial companies
from a global credit crisis, was approaching an end.
"Daily technical momentum indicators are all quite
overbought -- they have been for some days now -- and we're
likely to hear technical types start to fret that the end is
nigh for the bond rally," said William O'Donnell, a strategist
at UBS. He added, however, that "our dim, and dimming,
fundamental outlook for the U.S. economy will keep us from
falling into that trap.
OIL GAINS AND GOLD SOARS
U.S. light sweet crude oil <CLc1> for January delivery
rose 85 cents, or 0.8 percent, to $98.14 per barrel.
Spot gold prices <XAU=> jumped over 2 percent to $822.00
an ounce, a gain of more than $17 on the day, as the dollar's
weakness prompted gold bulls to make a fresh run toward the
recent 28-year high of $845.50 reached in early November. The
record for spot gold is $850, hit in January 1980.
(Additional reporting by Jennifer Coogan, Kristina Cooke,
Gene Ramos, Ellen Freilich, Nick Olivari and Frank Tang in New
York, and Jeremy Gaunt in London; Editing by Jan Paschal)
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Keywords: MARKETS GLOBAL