Oil Tumbles Following OPEC's Thursday Decision, Equities Little Changed During Friday's Shortened Session

While equities market were closed on Thursday in observance of Thanksgiving, OPEC nations gathered and jointly decided to maintain current output levels despite the slide in oil prices.

Virtually every oil-related company, as well as many large solar companies, saw declines in share price on Friday, while airline and cruise-related shares were mostly higher.

Recommended: Wunderlich: Following OPEC Decision, 'We Enter The Brave New World'

The Dow gained 0.00 percent, closing at 17,828.24.
The S&P 500 lost 0.25 percent, closing at 2,067.56
The Nasdaq gained 0.09 percent, closing at 4,791.63.
Gold lost 2.53 percent, trading at $1,167.20 an ounce.
Oil lost 7.90 percent, trading at $67.93 a barrel.

News of Note

Third quarter Canadian GDP rose 2.8 percent, higher than the 2.1 percent expected.

Equities News of Note

Analysts at Piper Jaffray maintained an Overweight rating on Amazon.com, Inc. AMZN with a price target raised to $400 from a previous $350.

Shares gained 1.45 percent, closing at $338.40.

Analysts at Morgan Stanley maintained an Underweight rating on Target Corporation TGT with a price target raised to $66 from a previous $61. Shares hit new 52-week highs of $74.76 before closing the day at $73.77, up 2.23 percent.

Best Buy Co Inc BBY confirmed that its mobile website BestBuy.com went down, but was later restored.

Share gained 1.63 percent, closing at $39.38.

Wal-Mart Stores, Inc WMT stated in a blog post that its Thanksgiving sales were “awesome.”

Separately, analysts at MKM Partners speculated that Wal-Mart's store traffic on Thanksgiving was down slightly from a year ago, as deals were extended over a longer period of time.

Shares hit new 52-week highs of $88.09 before closing the day at $87.55, up 3.02 percent.

Recommended: Piper Jaffray: Toys A 'Notable Winner,' Beauty Sales Below Average

IBM estimated that U.S. Thanksgiving online sales rose 14.3 percent from a year ago while ChannelAdvisor reported Amazon saw a 25 percent same-store sale increase on Thanksgiving. eBay Inc EBAY's same-store sales grew 3 percent, the outlet added.
Shares of Amazon gained 1.45 percent, closing at $338.40, while shares of eBay gained 0.46 percent, closing at $54.82.

Target stated that its online sales rose 40 percent on Thanksgiving from a year ago. Shares hit new 52-week highs of $74.76 before closing the day at $73.77, up 2.23 percent.

According to Bloomberg, Vodafone Group plc VOD is examining strategic options and may be interested in acquiring Liberty Global.

Shares of Vodafone gained 2.55 percent to close at $36.56, while shares of Liberty Global spiked to new 52-week highs of $53.47 before closing the day at $52.89, up 9.30 percent.

According to German media source Wirtschaftswoche, BMW is not interested in investing in Tesla Motors TSLA. Shares of Tesla lost 1.73 percent on Friday, closing at $244.14.

Walt Disney Co DIS, lastly, released a teaser-trailer for its December 2015 Star Wars film.

Shares hit new 52-week highs of $92.96 before closing the day at $92.51, up 0.64 percent.

Quote of the Day

"An optimist is a person who starts a new diet on Thanksgiving Day." - Irv Kupcinet.

Posted In: NewsTrading IdeasAmazonbest buyBMWCanadaCanada GDPChannelAdvisorCruisedisneyIBMLiberty Globaloil companiesOPECStar WarsTargetTeslaVodafoneWal-Mart
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