Dow opens little change as Wall Street looks to end winning week

Telsey Advisory Group CEO Dana Telsey expects more in-store shoppers and a move away from home improvement spending towards clothing and beauty on Black Friday.

“I think this holiday season will be all about in-person shopping,” Telsey said on “Squawk Box” Friday morning. “They open later, they open at 6 a.m., we have more promotions this year than we had last year. It’s a world of difference, and I’m looking to see what the promotional triggers are. as we move forward.”

But not all retailers will have the same fate. CNBC Pro subscribers can read his list of winners and losers here.

—Alex Harring

Stocks opened little change on Friday ahead of the short day of trading as Wall Street looks to close out a winning holiday week.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 19 points, or 0.09%. The S&P 500 lost 0.03% and the Nasdaq Composite slid 0.48%, weighed down by shares of Activision Blizzard, which fell nearly 4% on news that the FTC could block Microsoft from resuming the game company.

—Carmen Reinicke

Stock market futures moved back to the fixed line ahead of Friday’s opening bell.

Dow Jones Industrial Average futures rose 18 points, or 0.05%. S&P 500 futures lost 0.07% and Nasdaq 100 futures fell 0.40%, weighed down by shares of Activision Blizzard, which fell in premarket trading after learned that the FTC could prevent Microsoft from taking over the game company.

—Carmen Reinicke

The steady return of the Dow Jones is hitting a key technical level, according to Bespoke Investment Group.

The Dow Jones is 9.1% above its 50-day moving average, Bespoke said in a Tweeter Friday. This is the highest since June 2020 and only the eighth time since 1990 that it has been at least 9% above the moving average.

The 50-day moving average is a benchmark that traders use to predict short-term market movements. When an average is abnormally above its moving average, it could be a sign that it is overbought.

The Dow is up 4.5% in November.

—Jesse Pound

Here are some of the stocks that made the biggest moves before market Friday during a shortened trading day.

Tesla (TSLA) – Tesla rose 2% in premarket trading after saying its Full Self Driving Beta software is now available to everyone in North America. The company is still awaiting regulatory approval for the cars to be driven without human control.

Manchester United (MANU) – The football team’s shares jumped another 10.8% after posting two double-digit rallies on Tuesday and Wednesday following reports earlier in the week that it was considering options strategic, including a possible sale.

Learn more here.

—Carmen Reinicke, Peter Schacknow

Amazon workers in the United States and around 30 countries around the world plan to demonstrate on Black Friday to demand better pay from the online retailer.

The campaign, organized as part of the Make Amazon Pay initiative, plans to target the retail giant during one of the busiest shopping times of the year.

Amazon shares were little changed on Friday before the market.

—Sarah Min

ActivisionBlizzard Shares fell 3.7% before the bell on Friday after news that Microsoft’s takeover of the company for about $69 billion could face potential antitrust scrutiny.

Politico reported earlier this week that the Federal Trade Commission is likely to take legal action to block the acquisition, citing people familiar with the matter.

— Samantha Subin

European markets were muted on Friday to end an otherwise bullish week as the latest minutes from the US Federal Reserve meeting bolstered expectations that monetary policy tightening could slow.

The pan-European Stoxx 600 slipped 0.2% below the fixed line at the start of trade, with basic resources and retail losing 0.7%, with most sectors and major exchanges trading in slightly negative territory.

-Elliot Smith

Global economic conditions will change next year and that will change which markets and sectors are underperforming, according to UBS Investment Bank’s chief strategist.

“It’s an inch deep but it’s a mile wide,” he said of the expected recession. “Global growth is 2% and that’s not factored into stocks,” Bhanu Baweja told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Europe” on Wednesday.

He also named the sectors he expects to outperform next year.

CNBC Pro subscribers can learn more here.

— Jenny Reid

Patrick Armstrong, chief investment officer at Plurimi Wealth, believes that margin squeeze is the “biggest risk” for stocks. But he thinks some stocks could beat the trend.

“Own sectors with defensible margins or that create margin compression elsewhere,” he added, naming his favorite sectors and stocks.

Pro subscribers can learn more here.

— Zavier Ong