(Updates to close)
By Jennifer Coogan
NEW YORK, Nov 23 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks rebounded on
Friday in an abbreviated session as the start of holiday
shopping lifted retail stocks, while progress in a plan to
relieve the credit market's strain aided bank shares.
Shares of JPMorgan Chase <JPM.N>, Bank of America <BAC.N>
and Citigroup <C.N> all rose more than 2 percent. The three
banks, spearheading an effort to establish a superfund to ease
problems in the credit market, are expected to seek support
from others in the industry, The Wall Street Journal reported.
For details, see [ID:nN23284981].
Discount chain Target <TGT.N> led retailers higher as
droves of shoppers turned out -- in some cases before dawn --
for Black Friday, the official beginning of the holiday
shopping season.
Trading volume was thin in the shortened session. U.S.
financial markets were closed on Thursday for Thanksgiving. On
Wednesday stocks suffered heavy losses on credit market and housing sector worries.
"I think we're entitled to some sort of rebound. One piece
of good news is that the banks are making progress with the
rescue attempt," said Michael Metz, chief investment strategist
at Oppenheimer & Co. "But I wouldn't read too much into it
because it may be more a case of the sellers leaving early for
the day."
The Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> was up 181.84
points, or 1.42 percent, at 12,980.88. The Standard & Poor's
500 Index <.SPX> was up 23.93 points, or 1.69 percent, at
1,440.70. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.IXIC> was up 34.45
points, or 1.34 percent, at 2,596.60.
About 669 million shares changed hands, well below the
daily average of 1.84 billion, while on Nasdaq, about 786
million shares traded, below last year's daily average of 2.02
billion.
Advancing stocks outnumbered declining ones by a ratio of
nearly 5 to 1 on the NYSE and by more than 3 to 1 on Nasdaq.
Despite Friday's rally, the Dow finished the week down 1.5
percent. The S&P lost 1.2 percent on the week and the Nasdaq
fell 1.5 percent. November is shaping up to be one of the worst
months for stocks since late 2002.
JPMorgan shares rose 3 percent to $41.90. Bank of America
stock was up 2.4 percent to $43.13 and Citigroup stock climbed
3.2 percent to $31.70.
Consumers, many with the day off from work, visited stores
and shopping centers in search of bargains. Chains refer to the
day after Thanksgiving as "Black Friday" because it once marked
the day many retailers turned a profit and went into the black
for the year.
Shares of J.C. Penney <JCP.N>, which last week cut its
forecast for the holiday season, were up 3.1 percent to $41.30.
Target's stock jumped 5.7 percent to $57.17.
Boeing's <BA.N> stock rose after the chief executive of
Airbus, Boeing's chief rival, said the weakness of the dollar
is "life-threatening" for the European aircraft maker.
[ID:nL22262565] Boeing shares were up 2.4 percent to $89.54.
Mortgage and bond insurers rose after two French financial
institutions agreed to provide funds to bond insurer CIFG.
Shares of bond insurer MBIA <MBI.N> gained 6.1 percent to
$34.14 and AMBAC Financial <ABK.N> rose 5.8 percent to $25.55.
Shares of No. 1 U.S. mortgage insurer MGIC Investment <MTG.N>
were up 5.7 percent to $20.63.
E*Trade Financial <ETFC.O>, which was recently the object
of bankruptcy speculation, surged 25.1 percent to $5.33 on a
CNBC report that the online brokerage may be in merger talks
with Charles Schwab <SCHW.O> and TD Ameritrade Holding <AMTD.O>
[ID:nN23312996].
(Editing by Kenneth Barry)
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Keywords: MARKETS STOCKS