Dow Rises to Close Fourth Straight Winning Week

The 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:Dow Jones Industrial Average ros🗹e 117 points, or about 0.3%, on thin volume today. Friday’s ga♏ins put the index up 1.2% for the week, its fourth consecutive positive week.

Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) shares rose 1.1%, part of a market-leading health care sector that gained 0.5% on the session. UnitedHealth Group (UNH) moved up by 0.6% and Amgen (AMGN) rose 0.3%.

Shares of Walt Disney Company (DIS) gained about 1% as its newest animated film “🌞Wish🍒” hit theaters.

Walmart (WMT) shares rose 0.9% as shoppers 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:looked for Black Friday sales.

Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA) snapped a three-day losing stre✅ak and rose 0🦩.8% on news a British financial services company had agreed to a $6 billion buy-in for the Boots Pension scheme, a move that could pave the way for a sale of the British pharmacy chain.

Travelers Companies (TRV) moved higher by 0.8%.

Intel (INTC) shares gained 0.7% on reports that its competitor Nvidia (NVDA) would delay its rollout of a 澳洲幸🥀运5官方开奖结果体彩网:new artificial intelligence (AI) chip for China. 

Caterpillar (CAT) posted its first gain in 𒉰four sessions, moving higher by 0💖.6%. 

Apple (AAPL) shares fell 0.7% on reports that its iPhone 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:sales fell in China during the Singles Daꩵy shopping holiday. 

Apple’s drop added to a down day for the tech sector, which lost 0.3%. Microsoft (MSFT) was lower by 0.1%. 

Nike (NKE) shares fell 0.3%, giving up a three-day wiಌnning streak.

-Terry Lane

Walgreens Rises After Offloading Boots🍷 Pension Scheme

Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA) shares rose about 1% Friday after U.K. financial services group Legal & General agreed to a 4.8 billion pound (approximately $6 billion) buy-in for the Boots Pension scheme, paving the way for a possible sale of the British pharmacy. 

Walgreens first tried to sell Boots in 2021 but shelved those plans l𝔍ast year amid market turmoil. Offloading Boots’ pension responsibilities could ౠbe an attempt to sweeten the deal for potential buyers. 

Walgreens and Alliance Boots first began their merger in 2012 when Walgreens acquired a 45% stake in the U.K. retail pharmacy chain for $4 billion in cash and 83.4 million shares. The merger was completed in 2014 when Walgreens acquired the remaining 55% for $5.3 billion in cash and 144.3 million shares. 

Since then Walgreens has struggled amid the rise of online pharmacies and the entry of giant retail competitors like Amazon (AMZN) and Walmart (WMT).

After rising to a record high of more🍬 than $96 shortly after the merger, shares of the Dow component have steadily declined. Walgreens Boots Alliance shares fell to a 25-year low of $20.17 earlier this month.

Nvidia Shares Drop on Wordও of a Delay in the Release of a New AI Chip for C﷽hina

Nvidia (NVDA) shares slumped on a report the semiconductor maker was delay🔜ing the launch of a new artificial intellige﷽nce (AI) chip for China that would comply with the latest 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:U.S. export restrictions.

Reuters said the H20 chip was the most powerful of three semiconduc𓆏tors the company was set to put out after President Biden signed an executive order in August limiting shipments of advanced technologies to China.

It had been believed the Nvidia chips could be launched this moౠnth. However, people familiar with the matter indicated the H20 chip would now be launched in the first quarter of 2024🧸 due to issues server makers were having integrating the chip.

Shares of Nvidia have been soaring, hitting an all-time high on Monday on booming demand for its AI semiconductors. However, shares fell Wednesday when the company explained following the release of its quarterly earnings report that the 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体🅺彩网:China export rules would negatively ✨impact current quarter results.

-Bill McColl

Apple Falls on Softer Singles Day Sales in China

Shares of Apple Inc. (AAPL) fell about 1% Friday after reports i𒉰ndicated iPhone sales during China’s 2023 Singles Day shopping event fell about 4% from last year, according to data from Counterpoint Research.

The iPhone maker💃 also fell behind local smartphone rivals, Huawei and Xiaomi, which saw sales increase 66% and 28%, respectively. 

The iPhone is Apple's most successful product line, accounting for just under 50% of total revenue in the most recent quarter. For t💛💙hat reason, investors follow iPhone sales closely.

Global smartphone sales rebounded in Oc𝓀tober after slumping for more than 2 years. The release of Huawei’s Mate 60 and Appꦐle’s iPhone 15 helped boost sales to their highest since January 2022.

November PMI Shows Private Emp෴loyment Falling for First Time Since June 2020

U.S. firms surveyed by S&P Global for its monthly 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) reduced their headcount in November✨ for the first ✅time since June 2020 as demand remained subdued. 

The Flash U.S. PMI Composite Output Index was 50.7 in Novemb🍒er, the🌠 same as October’s reading, signaling a steady, modest rise in business activity. Growth slowed at manufacturing firms while ticking up slightly among service providers.

Expectation൲s for business conditions improved slightly at manufacturers—encouraged by an uptick in international orders—but fell in the services sector amid concerns about consumer spending and economic uncer⛄tainty.

Service providers trimmed their workforces for the first time since June 2020, citing muted demand, elevated costs, and dwindling backlogs.

Early Market Movers

iRobot Corp. (IRBT): Shares of the Roomba maker jumped about 30% after Reuters reported that the EU is set to give Amazon (AMZN) unconditional approval to move forward with its $1.4 billion acquisition. Amazon slip♚ped about 0.2% in early trading.

Stellantis NV (STLA): Shares of the automaker rose about 2% after it opened its first parts recycling and repurposing hub in Turin, Italy. CEO Carlos Tavares said he expects the company's larger “circular economy” business to generate $2 billion in revenue by 2030.

General Motors Co. (GM): Shares of the carmaker rose about 1% af⛄ter the new CEO of Cruise, GM’s driverless taxi service that it recently paused amid safety reviews, said Wednesday it would reintroduce service in one city, scaling back plans to roll out in more than a dozen cities.

Nvidia Corp. (NVDA): Shares fell about 1% after reports the AI chip leader had told customers in China that it would delay the launch of a new chip designed to sati𝔉sfy U.S. export rules until the first quarter of 2024. 

Stock Futures Mixed Heading Into Shortened Tr🐓a💟ding Day

Futures contracts connected to the Dow Jones Industrial Average 🍃were about 0.1% higher in premarket tღrading.

S&P 500 cont🀅racts inched up slightly less than 0.1%.

And Nasdaq 100 futures were slightly lower.