Black Friday Watch

All eyes were on retailers Friday as the holiday shopping season kicked into high gear. As many as about 133 million Americans are expected to go bargain hunting during the day, according to the National Retail Federation. Circuit City (+19.5%) and Best Buy (0.9%) were among the stores with reported long lines before their early morning opens. Macy's CEO Terry Lundgren opened the Herald Square Macy's (+5.4%) in New York City a half an hour earlier than expected, after he saw 3,000 consumers lined up in front of the store. "When you see this type of traffic and the number of Macy's bags people are carrying, it's an encouraging sign," Lundgren said. "All retailers are being somewhat cautious to get our hands around the macroeconomic issues." Though the markets were only open a half-day, Target (+5.4%), Kohl's (+2.4%), and J.C. Penny (+3.1%) among others were able to trade considerably higher off the holiday excitement. The S&P's Retail Index jumped 2.8%.

Sources: MarketWatch, Bloomberg
Commentary: Luxury Retailers Immune to Holiday Spending Slowdown - Reuters • I'm a Buyer in This Selloff
Stocks to watch: BBY, CC, M, TGT, KSS, JCP

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Comments

[Frank Li]

Was there enough data so early to suggest that sales will be better than expected, or was this a pure sentiment move?