US stocks end week on a negative note

New York: US stocks closed lower, wrapping up the holiday-shortened week on a negative note, as investors observed the market on Black Friday, the beginning of the latest US holiday shopping season.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 112.59 points, or 0.40 per cent, to 28,051.41 on Friday. The S&P 500 was down 12.65 points, or 0.40 per cent, to 3,140.98. The Nasdaq Composite Index decreased 39.70 points, or 0.46 per cent, to 8,665.47, Xinhua reported.

All of the 11 primary S&P 500 sectors traded on a downbeat note, with energy falling 1.01 per cent around market close, leading the losers.

Shares of Walmart rose 0.28 per cent, while shares of Amazon.com dropped around 0.97 per cent respectively, as Wall Street continued to watch retail stocks amid a robust holiday shopping season.

Online shopping sales on Black Friday are on track to high $7.4 billion, CNBC reported, citing data from Adobe Analytics.

Shoppers spent $4.2 billion online on Thanksgiving Day, or Thursday, an upswing of 14.5 per cent year over year and hitting a record high, according to Adobe.

The US stock market closed on Thursday for a national holiday, and shut down at 1 p.m. EST (1800 GMT) on Friday.

The three benchmark indexes ended higher on Wednesday, following Tuesday’s fresh closing highs, as investors digested a batch of data, including the moderately higher US growth rate in the third quarter.