Black Friday best in years, retail stocks react

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Retail stocks were mixed following projections Black
Friday 2018 will be the
strongest in years. 

Total spending over the Black Friday weekend was expected to
climb 5.7% versus a year ago to $59.6 billion, according to
estimates by GlobalData Retail. That would make for the strongest
growth rate since 2011.

“More people have already shopped than at this point last
year, and their average spend is higher,” Neil Saunders, the
firm’s managing director, said in a statement. “The numbers who
say that they have yet to shop or that they have more to buy are
also up on 2017.”

Big box retailers likeWalmart (+0.83%), Best
Buy (+0.71%), and Target (-2%)
traded mixed. The SPDR S&P retail exchange-traded fund gained
0.7%. Elsewhere, the department stores Macy’s (-1.44%)
and Nordstrom (-0.88%)
were weaker.

Meanwhile Amazon (+0.34%)
gained following data from Adobe Analytics that showed online
spending on the day before Thanksgiving was up a whopping 31.8%
from a year ago to $2.4 billion. That total increased by another
$1.75 billion by 5 p.m. ET on Thanksgiving Day. 

Despite the reports of increased spending, credit card giants
Mastercard
(1-.74%), Visa
(-0.39%), and American
Express (-0.17%) were all lower. 

Kate Taylor contributed to this report.