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S&P 500 hits record intraday high

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Nvidia ( NVDA ) leads tech stocks, retail stocks edge up

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Applied Therapeutics ( APLT ) plummets after FDA declines drug

approval

(Updates to early market close)

By Saeed Azhar, Johann M Cherian and Purvi Agarwal

Nov 29 (Reuters) -

The S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average notched record

closing highs in a shortened Black Friday session, lifted by

select technology stocks, while retail was in focus as the

holiday shopping season kicked off.

Information technology stocks including Nvidia ( NVDA )

helped boost the benchmark S&P 500, while the

industrial and financial sectors lifted the blue-chip Dow.

Investors monitored shoppers' response to deep Black Friday

discounts. Adobe Analytics estimated consumers would spend a

record $10.8 billion in online purchases, up 9.9% from Black

Friday last year.

Shares of Target ( TGT ), Hasbro ( HAS ) and Macy's

rose.

The S&P 500 rose 0.56% to 6,032.44 points. The Nasdaq gained

0.83% to 19,218.17 points, while the Dow Jones Industrial

Average was up 0.42% at 44,910.65 points.

S&P 500 index breached its intraday record high of

6,025.42 set on Nov. 26.

"Retailers do a lot of importing. Inventory levels are very

important to their profitability and ability to kind of control

margins, so they will be one of the industries in the (tariffs)

crossfire," said Ross Mayfield, investment strategist at Baird.

"But so far ... (things are) looking pretty solid for the

Black Friday, Cyber Monday sale."

Chip stocks rebounded from Wednesday's declines, sending

the Philadelphia SE Semiconductor index higher.

The small-cap Russell 2000 index also rose as

Treasury bond yields retreated further from multi-month highs.

Wall Street's main indexes closed lower on Wednesday,

with the Nasdaq leading declines, as technology stocks slumped

on Thanksgiving eve on worries the Federal Reserve may be

cautious about rate cuts following stubbornly strong U.S.

inflation data.

Donald Trump's victory in the U.S. presidential election

earlier this month, along with his Republican Party winning the

majority in both houses of Congress, provided the latest boost

to equities.

Investors were pricing in expectations that Trump's

pro-business policies could spur economic growth and corporate

profits. However, concerns prevailed that they could also stoke

inflation, slow the pace of the Fed's rate cuts and weigh on

global growth.

Traders expect the U.S. central bank to lower borrowing

costs by 25 basis points at its December meeting, but see it

pausing rate cuts in January, the CME Group's FedWatch showed.

Crypto stocks rose on the back of gains in bitcoin,

boosting MicroStrategy ( MSTR ) and MARA Holdings ( MARA ).

Applied Therapeutics ( APLT ) plunged after the U.S. Food

and Drug Administration declined to approve its drug for the

treatment of a rare genetic metabolic disease.