1:07pm: Thanksgiving rally
US stocks finished the holiday-shortened week on a positive note as investors boosted bets of a rate cut from the Federal Reserve at its upcoming December meeting.
The Nasdaq added 0.7% at 23,365, the Dow Jones was up 0.6% at 47,716 points and the S&P 500 was up 0.5% at 6,849 points.
“US stocks are extending this week’s rally in a low-volume, shortened post-Thanksgiving trading session," IG senior technical analyst Axel Rudolph said. "In Europe, sentiment also remained positive - despite German retail sales unexpectedly declining - with indices finishing the week in the green."
12:10pm: Intel on the move
Intel Corp (NASDAQ:INTC, XETRA:INL) shares moved higher on Friday, adding more than 7% on optimism about demand for AI-powered personal computers.
Investors remain bullish on Intel amid escalating trade-secret litigation with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (ADR) (NYSE:TSM). TSMC filed a lawsuit on November 25 against its former senior vice president, Wei-Jen Lo, alleging a high likelihood that he disclosed trade secrets after joining Intel as an executive vice president.
11:15am: Silver touches all-time high
Silver prices soared to a new all-time high on Friday, surpassing the $55 per ounce mark as investor optimism grew over a potential interest rate cut by the US Federal Reserve in December.
The precious metal jumped over 3% to $55.01 per ounce just after US markets opened on Friday.
Investor optimism has been fueled by comments from Federal Reserve officials. Earlier this week, Fed Bank of San Francisco President Mary Daly signaled support for a rate cut at the next policy meeting, following similar remarks from Fed Governor Christopher Waller. Lower interest rates tend to reduce the opportunity cost of holding non-yielding assets like silver, bolstering demand.
9:55am: Markets bounce after outage
After a holiday-shortened week and a downbeat November, US stocks opened slightly higher Friday as trading resumed at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange following a prolonged data center glitch.
The outage, which disrupted futures and options across global markets, was resolved by 8:30 am ET, with individual stocks appearing to trade normally.
The major indexes were modestly higher: the Nasdaq rose 0.4% to 23,305, the Dow Jones gained 0.3% to 47,559, the S&P 500 added 0.3% to 6,831, and the Russell 2000 was up 0.3% at 2,494.
Investors are entering a quiet period ahead of the Federal Reserve’s December 10 policy decision. With the shutdown limiting recent economic data, the spotlight this week will fall on the ADP employment report Wednesday, along with Monday’s ISM manufacturing and Wednesday’s ISM services reports. Friday brings the University of Michigan sentiment index, offering a peek into consumer confidence heading into the final month of the year.
Gold is on track for a fourth straight monthly gain, driven by expectations of another US rate cut, which typically boosts non-yielding assets.
The metal has risen almost every month this year and is poised for its best annual performance since 1979, according to Patrick Munnelly, partner and market strategist at Tickmill Group.
Meanwhile, Brent crude held steady above $63 a barrel, aiming for its fourth consecutive monthly decline.
OPEC+ nations are set to meet Sunday, expected to maintain their pause on output increases through early 2026.
8:15am: CME outage stokes jitters
It’s a slow and slightly chaotic start to Black Friday trading as a major CME outage ripples across global markets. The exchange is gradually restoring operations after a long disruption that halted futures and options trading worldwide, affecting everything from equity index contracts to US Treasurys and crude oil.
CME said two FX platforms reopened around 7am ET, but there’s still no indication of when other markets will resume, leaving traders flying partly blind on a day that was already expected to be quiet.
Before the freeze, the mood was modestly positive: Dow and S&P 500 futures were each up about 0.1%, while Nasdaq 100 contracts rose 0.2%. With the NYSE and Nasdaq set to close early at 1pm ET and the bond market shutting at 2pm, volumes were always likely to be thin.
The only notable US data point Friday is the Chicago Business Barometer at 9:45 am.
Market sentiment is also contending with fresh political headlines. President Donald Trump said in a Truth Social post that he would “permanently pause migration” from all “third world countries,” adding another element of uncertainty to an already jittery backdrop.
Beyond the outage and holiday lull, investors are digesting a turbulent but surprisingly strong earnings season. “It’s boring when the US is not here,” says Swissquote senior analyst Ipek Ozkardeskaya, noting that without the usual flow of news and positioning, markets are left to mull a “harsh month” of impressive corporate results overshadowed by heavy tech-sector drama.