Stocks had a mixed finish Friday after a half-day trading session that capped a holiday-shortened week that left major indexes with their fourth straight winning week.
The S&P 500 rose 0.1% after swinging between small gains and losses much of the day. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.3% and the Nasdaq composite fell 0.1%.
In total, the S&P 500 added 2.72 points to 4,559.34. The Dow Jones rose 117.12 points to 35,390.15 and the Nasdaq fell 15 points to 14,250.85.
Trading was quiet as markets reopened after the Thanksgiving holiday on Thursday. Gains in the healthcare, financials, energy and other sectors helped moderate losses in technology and communications services stocks.
Chipmaker Nvidia and Google parent Alphabet were among the biggest fallers, losing 1.9% and 1.3%, respectively. Among the big winners in the S&P 500 were CF Industries, which rose 2.6%, and Best Buy, which closed 2.2% higher.
The latest weekly gains for the major stock indexes reflect a shift in market sentiment in November after a three-month decline. Traders have become cautiously optimistic that inflation has cooled enough for the Federal Reserve to finally end its market-crushing interest rate hikes.
Forecasts of a possible recession have been postponed until 2024 and at the same time softened. The inflation rate continues to decline, consumer spending remains strong, and the overall economy is doing well. This has raised hopes and bets that the Federal Reserve You might even consider reducing rates.
However, Fed officials have said the outlook for the economy remains uncertain and they will make upcoming rate decisions based on incoming reports. The Fed will get another big update next week when the government releases its October report on a key measure of inflation tracked by the central bank.
In the bond market, Treasury yields rose broadly on Friday. The yield on the 10-year Treasury bond, which influences interest rates on mortgages and other loans, rose to 4.47% from 4.41% on Wednesday. The two-year Treasury yield rose to 4.95% from 4.90% late Wednesday.
Oil prices, a key driver of inflation, continued to decline on Friday, with US crude oil falling 2%. Oil prices have plummeted in recent weeks amid concerns about a mismatch between too much crude supply and too little demand.
Investors are watching how U.S. retailers will fare as the holiday shopping season begins. black Friday, given growing concerns that spending could slow under the pressure of declining savings, rising credit card debt and inflation.
The latest quarterly results from a number of retailers Walmart to Best Buy to Saks Fifth Avenue suggested a weakening of consumers' appetite to spend even as inflation declines and employment remains strong.
Stocks rose mostly in Europe. Germany's DAX rose 0.2%, while Paris' CAC 40 rose 0.2%. Britain's FTSE 100 rose 0.1%.
Asian markets finished mixed. Tokyo's Nikkei 225 added 0.5% after Japan reported its consumer inflation rose for the first time in four months, with big gains in food prices and hotel rates as tourism soared. The consumer price index rose 3.3% in October from a year earlier, up from 3% in September, a trend contrary to the Bank of Japan's forecast that price pressures would ease towards the end of the year.
"Both the government and the BOJ will be concerned about higher-than-expected inflation," Robert Carnell and Min Joo Kang of ING Economics said in a commentary. That will likely lead the central bank to tighten its extremely loose monetary policy in the new year, they said.
In China, stocks retreated following recent gains driven by expectations of greater government support for debt-ridden property developers. Shares of Country Garden, one of the largest, sank 7.6% after gaining 16% the previous day.
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng fell 2%, while the Shanghai Composite Index lost 0.7%.
Elsewhere in Asia, South Korea's Kospi fell 0.7%, while Australia's S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.2%.
AP Business Writer Elaine Kurtenbach contributed.
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