Stocks rose in a shortened trading session on Friday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI -0.98%) made small gains, and the S&P 500 (^GSPC -0.46%) set a new high, closing above 2,600 for the first time.
Today's stock market
| Index | Percentage Change | Point Change |
|---|---|---|
| Dow | 0.14% | 31.81 |
| S&P 500 | 0.21% | 5.34 |
Data source: Yahoo! Finance.
The tech stocks led the market higher today, with the Technology Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLK -0.22%) posting a gain of 0.6%. Crude oil set a two-year high, and the Energy Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLE 0.46%) moved up 0.3%.
On a day when there wasn't a lot of news, a few investors took a break from Black Friday shopping and bid up shares of Amazon.com (AMZN -1.65%).
Image source: Getty Images.
Forget Black Friday -- now we have the "Turkey 5"
Online retail juggernaut Amazon added fuel to opening of the holiday shopping season by announcing a new list of deals for the "Turkey 5," the five days starting with Thanksgiving and ending with Cyber Monday. Not that investors needed a reminder about the company's ability to generate consumer demand, but the news may have been part of the reason investors went shopping for Amazon stock today, bidding up shares 2.6%.
Amazon had earlier turned Black Friday into a week-long affair by announcing special deals that came out daily leading up to today, but to build the momentum going into Monday's online buying frenzy, the company announced in a press release some new bargains that will appear on its web site starting tomorrow. Since customers won't know when any given deal will appear, and the items will be available "while supplies last," Amazon is hoping to drive repeat visits to its web site as shoppers engage in a treasure hunt for bargains. Customers buying with voice commands using Alexa will also get a head start on Cyber Monday deals, beginning Sunday at 5:00 p.m. PT.
Amazon has certainly demonstrated its ability to whip up customer buying enthusiasm, even creating its own shopping holiday out of thin air, Prime Day. A little of that enthusiasm spilled over into Wall Street today, producing yet another record high for the stock.
