US stocks gain in shortened session

Stocks rose today as investors capped a volatile week by engaging in a bit of Black Friday bargain-hunting and searched for indications of how well retailers might fare during what is expected to be a tough holiday shopping season.

Today's session closed three hours early, capping a volatile Thanksgiving week. On Wednesday, the Dow Jones industrial average and the Standard & Poor's 500 index each fell more than 1.5%, with the Dow giving up more than 200 points.

Today's gains were not enough to reverse losses for the week and the session could prove more an aberration than a reversal of recent trends. With many of Wall Street's principal players on vacation, volume was light as is typical of holiday-shortened days, prompting many market-watchers to caution against reading too much into the advance.

"While I'd love to celebrate this rally, it is on very thin volume and we have to really wait until next week to get a sense of the true direction of this market," said Jack Ablin, chief investment officer at Harris Private Bank in Chicago.

Still, he said, it is a nevertheless a good sign that stocks did not extend Wednesday's slide.

"It looks like a little rebound rally," Mr Ablin said. "Maybe the day off for Thanksgiving enabled investors to reflect that maybe the bottom isn't falling out of the economy."

According to preliminary calculations, the Dow rose 181.84, or 1.42%, to 12,980.88, finishing at the highs of the session rather than losing steam in the final hour as has been seen often in recent weeks.

Broader stock indicators also rose. The Standard & Poor's 500 index advanced 23.93, or 1.69%, to 1,440.70, and the Nasdaq composite index rose 34.45, or 1.34%, to 2,596.60.

For the week, the Dow lost 1.49%, the S&P lost 1.24% and the Nasdaq gave up 1.54%.

Government bonds showed little movement. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note, which moves inversely to its price, stood at 4.01%, flat with late on Wednesday.