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Pre-market trading is buoyant after Black Friday sales estimates

Research shows consumers opened their wallets on Black Friday, giving early market sentiment a lift, though credit worries linger.

U.S. stock futures advanced on Monday as statistics suggested that retail spending wasn’t as curtailed as much as had been feared, while difficulties in the credit market were still apparent as HSBC said it would provide $35 billion in funding to a pair of troubled funds.

S&P 500 futures rose 5.1 points at 1,447.00 and Nasdaq 100 futures added 8.75 points at 2,041.25. Dow industrial futures added 24 points. All three contracts were off highs of the pre-open session.

With data showing Black Friday sales up 8.3%, according to an estimate from ShopperTrak RCT, stocks worldwide advanced on Monday.

A separate study from the National Retail Federation calculated that the average shopper spent 3.5% less than last year between Thanksgiving and Sunday, though 4.8% more customers shopped.

The Hang Seng rose over 4% in Hong Kong, while the FTSE 100 slipped 0.2% after early gains.

 

Citigroup shares rose 0.5% in Frankfurt, while HSBC dropped 1% in London trade.

The European Central Bank said late on Friday that it may inject more funding into the European banking system, citing re-emerging tensions in credit markets.

The euro hit a new record high of $1.4878 as China paid in euros for part of a big French nuclear reactor order, and the dollar also fell to new two-year lows vs. the yen on a report China’s sovereign wealth fund would invest some assets in Japanese stocks.

Crude oil futures rose 12 cents at $98.30 a barrel. Gold futures jumped $7.70 to $832.40 an ounce.

 

n Friday, U.S. stocks rallied in a shortened session, with the Dow industrials adding 181 points, the S&P 500 rising 23 points and the Nasdaq Composite extending 34 points.

 

http://www.marketwatch.com/News/Story/Story.aspx?column=Indications 

 

 

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