Stocks Mixed On Friday, But Up For The Week  Image: Shutterstock Stocks closed mixed on Friday's shortened trading session with the Dow and the small-cap Russell 2000 in the green, while the S&P and Nasdaq finished in the red. But all of the main indexes closed higher for the week. Now that Thanksgiving is over, everybody has turned their attention to Black Friday, and today's Cyber Monday. Black Friday shopping saw a fine uptick with sales up more than 2% y/y. That's down from last year's double-digit gains. But comps were easier vs. 2020. Nonetheless, brick and mortar stores saw increased foot traffic, and online sales set a new record high. Cyber Monday is also expected to do well. Once that's finished, the focus will shift to end-of-year Holiday shopping. Not much in the way of economic reports today. The only thing on the docket is the Dallas Fed Manufacturing Survey. Tomorrow is a little busier with the Case-Shiller Home Price Index, the FHFA House Price Index, and Consumer Confidence. But the 2 main events this week will be Thursday's Personal Income and Outlays report, where we'll see what the PCE (Personal Consumption Expenditures) Index comes in at, which is an inflation gauge looked at by the Fed. We'll also get Friday's always important Employment Situation report. The Fed has been watching this closely as well. While the hot labor market shows the resiliency of the economy, it also shows that the economy (and possibly inflation), could remain elevated. It will definitely be a busy week this week. And traders will also be focused on whether the market can extend their gains. Stocks have been on a roll ever since they put in their key upside reversal on October 13. And with the seasonal tendencies in the market's favor (Q4 is typically the best quarter for stocks, and the post-midterm moves in the market show that since 1950, stocks have always gone up in the year after midterms, with an average 12-month forward return of 18.6%), it looks like there could be a lot more upside to go. See you tomorrow,  Kevin Matras
Executive Vice President, Zacks Investment Research | 
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