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US stocks boosted by open of holiday shopping season

AFP
Major economic data releases this week include the April jobs report and readings on the services manufacturing and services sectors

Shares of leading retailers rose in opening trading Friday, lifting US stocks as the holiday shopping season kicked off amid expectations of solid sales.

Shares of Wal-Mart Stores rose 0.4 percent, while Target gained 0.7 percent and Macy's 0.1 percent. However, Best Buy lost 1.2 percent.

Leading forecasters have projected that US holiday shopping sales will rise around three to four percent compared with last year.

Five minutes into trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average stood at 19,128.44.

The broad-based S&P 500 gained 0.2 percent to 2,208.04, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index advanced less than 0.1 percent to 5,382.98.

The Dow and S&P 500 closed at records on Wednesday prior to the Thanksgiving holiday. Markets will close early Friday.