U.S. stock indices rose on Friday, with global stock markets heading for their best monthly performance since May, as hopes for strong economic growth in the USA and a surge in AI investment outweighed concerns about political unrest and economic slowdown in europe. Today, being the day after Thanksgiving, U.S. stocks will close three hours early, at 02:00 Beijing time the next day.

As of press time, the Dow rose 0.31%, the Nasdaq rose 0.68%, and the S&P 500 index rose 0.47%, hitting a new all-time high.

WTI crude oil fell 0.39%, trading at $68.45 per barrel. Brent crude oil fell 0.73%, trading at $72.25 per barrel.

Morgan Stanley Capital International's global stock index opened stable, maintaining a monthly gain of 3.2%.

Earlier, stronger inflation data from Japan stimulated the yen to break through levels, briefly surpassing the 150 mark.

S&P 500 index futures are expected to continue their monthly gain of 5.1%, potentially marking the strongest month since February.

Trump's victory in the election on November 5, along with his promises of tax cuts, deregulation, and tariffs on imports, has made investors more expectant that the USA and Wall Street stocks will continue to outperform other regions.

The U.S. economy still shows resilience. Employment is strong, inflation is easing, and interest rates are beginning to fall, said Christopher Rossbach, Chief Investment Officer of J.Stern & Co. He expects AI-related stocks to rise further, including the leading chip manufacturer, Nvidia.

American retailers are preparing for Black Friday, while consumers remain cautious.

After the Thanksgiving holiday in the USA, retailers are set to open at 5 AM, hoping that despite the shorter time, more consumers will complete their shopping lists.

The National Retail Federation in the USA estimates that about 85.6 million shoppers will shop in-store this year, an increase from last year's 76 million on Black Friday. However, between Thanksgiving and Christmas, shoppers only have 26 days, while last year they had a more leisurely 31 days.

What adds more pressure to retailers is that shoppers, tired of inflation, are unwilling to splurge unless they can find bargains. While most American retailers close on Thanksgiving, J.C. Penney will open at 5 AM on Friday to allow shoppers to start their holiday shopping early.

Best Buy, Lowe's Companies, and Home Depot will open at 6 AM, while Costco, TJ Maxx, IKEA, and Sephora will open between 7 AM and 10 AM.

The Trump trade has cooled, and the dollar may post its worst weekly performance since August.

As investors begin to reconsider the so-called Trump trade, the dollar is on track for its biggest weekly decline in three months. The Bloomberg Dollar Index fell by 0.2% on Friday, expanding the weekly decline to 1.1%.

This week, the dollar fell against all G10 currencies except for the Canadian dollar, with the largest drop against the Japanese yen. President-elect Trump's trade threats have disrupted financial markets, but the nomination of Bessent as the next U.S. Treasury Secretary has led to a decline in U.S. yields, stalling the dollar’s rally.

Before the usd retreated, the dollar bullish position index rose to a more than one-year high, suggesting that a pullback may have been long overdue.

Barclays has joined Wall Street's bullish ranks, predicting that the s&p 500 index will rise to 6600 points next year.

Barclays stated that, against the backdrop of economic recovery and strong corporate earnings, the us stock market will continue to rise next year. The bank expects the s&p 500 index to increase by 10% to 6600 points, joining the bullish forecast of top analysts.

Their expectation is that the index's growth rate will be slightly slower than the 26% increase seen this year. Led by Venu Krishna, the head of US equity strategy at the firm, Barclays strategists predict that fueled by strong earnings growth from technology companies and economic resilience, the s&p index will rise another 10% next year, reaching 6600 points.

Their forecast marks a slowdown in the index's increase next year compared to the 26% increase accumulated since the beginning of this year, but they optimistically believe that the economic environment will continue to support the stock market.

Focus stocks

• Growth tech continues to strengthen, $Tesla (TSLA.US)$ Increased by nearly 2%,$NVIDIA (NVDA.US)$Increased by 1.4%, $Advanced Micro Devices (AMD.US)$ Increased by 0.76%.

• Most china concept stocks are down. $PDD Holdings (PDD.US)$ Dropped nearly 3%. $Baidu (BIDU.US)$ Down 1.6%, $Alibaba (BABA.US)$ Down 0.62%.

• Semiconductor equipment & materials collectively surged, $ASML Holding (ASML.US)$ 、 $Applied Materials (AMAT.US)$ Up 3%, $Lam Research (LRCX.US)$ up more than 4%.

• Uranium stocks rose collectively, $Energy Fuels (UUUU.US)$ Up over 8%, $Centrus Energy (LEU.US)$ Up nearly 7%.

• $Super Micro Computer (SMCI.US)$ Dropped over 9%.

• $MINISO (MNSO.US)$ Increased by 2.43%, Q3 revenue grew 19.3% year-on-year, with over 7,400 stores.

• $SOS Ltd (SOS.US)$ Increased over 26%, the company announced the purchase of bitcoin worth up to 50 million USD.

• USA drone small cap stocks. $Unusual Machines (UMAC.US)$ Once rose more than 50%, appointing Trump's eldest son as an advisor.

Editor/Rocky