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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

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Retail stocks up on Black Friday

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Indexes up; Dow 0.42%, S&P 500 0.56%, Nasdaq 0.83%

(Updates with closing prices, volumes)

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

technology stocks such as Nvidia ( NVDA ), while retail was in

focus as the holiday shopping season kicked off.

Information technology stocks helped boost the

benchmark S&P 500 and blue-chip Dow, which was also aided by

industrial stocks.

Nvidia ( NVDA ) gained 2%, while Tesla rose 3.7%.

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 ) rose 1.7% and Macy's climbed

1.8%.

The S&P 500 rose 0.56% to 6,032.44 points after breaching

its intraday record high of 6,025.42 set on Nov. 26.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 0.42% to

44,910.65 points. The Nasdaq gained 0.83% at 19,218.17 points.

"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 1.5% higher.

The small-cap Russell 2000 index also rose 0.4%

as Treasury bond yields retreated further from multi-month

highs.

Wall Street's main indexes had 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 MARA Holdings ( MARA ) by 1.9%.

Applied Therapeutics ( APLT ) plunged 76% after the U.S.

Food and Drug Administration declined to approve its drug for

the treatment of a rare genetic metabolic disease.

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 2.46-to-1 ratio

on the NYSE. There were 386 new highs and 63 new lows on the

NYSE.

The S&P 500 posted 31 new 52-week highs and no new lows

while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 116 new highs and 31 new

lows.

Volume on U.S. exchanges was 8.15 billion shares during

a shortened trading week, compared with the roughly 15 billion

full-session average over the last 20 trading days.

For the week, the S&P 500 gained 1.06%, the Nasdaq rose

1.13%, and the Dow climbed 1.39%. The Russell 2000 Small Cap

index rose 1.48%, after hitting a record high earlier in the

week.