NEW YORK (Reuters) -– Wall Street may struggle to build on its best week in almost 30 years next week, as investors grapple with a raft of economic data, including the November jobs report, that will likely provide more evidence of a deep economic downturn.
Investors will also watch reports on the weekend's retail sales to see if consumers opened their wallets and began buying gifts on Black Friday, as the day after Thanksgiving is known. It's the traditional start of the holiday shopping season and usually one of the biggest shopping days of the year. But this time, holiday sales forecasts are grim as the end of easy credit and rising unemployment have made consumers more frugal. Wall Street ended the holiday-shortened week in the black, snapping a weeks-long losing streak as investors were encouraged by the government's bailout of Citigroup (C.N). The Standard & Poor's 500 Index (.SPX) scored its best week since at least 1980 -- jumping 12 percent. That marked a turnaround from the previous week, when the S&P booked its lowest close since 1997. For the four-day week, the Dow Jones industrial average (.DJI) rose 9.7 percent and the Nasdaq Composite Index (.IXIC) surged 10.9 percent. The U.S. stock market was closed on Thursday for the Thanksgiving holiday. Still, steep losses among financial and automaker stocks have made this among the worst months for Wall Street since the October 1987 stock market crash. For November, the Dow fell 5.3 percent, the S&P 500 dropped 7.5 percent and the Nasdaq lost 10.8 percent. In the coming week, the most crucial indicator will be the November non-farm payrolls report on Friday.
Investors will also watch reports on the weekend's retail sales to see if consumers opened their wallets and began buying gifts on Black Friday, as the day after Thanksgiving is known. It's the traditional start of the holiday shopping season and usually one of the biggest shopping days of the year. But this time, holiday sales forecasts are grim as the end of easy credit and rising unemployment have made consumers more frugal. Wall Street ended the holiday-shortened week in the black, snapping a weeks-long losing streak as investors were encouraged by the government's bailout of Citigroup (C.N). The Standard & Poor's 500 Index (.SPX) scored its best week since at least 1980 -- jumping 12 percent. That marked a turnaround from the previous week, when the S&P booked its lowest close since 1997. For the four-day week, the Dow Jones industrial average (.DJI) rose 9.7 percent and the Nasdaq Composite Index (.IXIC) surged 10.9 percent. The U.S. stock market was closed on Thursday for the Thanksgiving holiday. Still, steep losses among financial and automaker stocks have made this among the worst months for Wall Street since the October 1987 stock market crash. For November, the Dow fell 5.3 percent, the S&P 500 dropped 7.5 percent and the Nasdaq lost 10.8 percent. In the coming week, the most crucial indicator will be the November non-farm payrolls report on Friday.
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