(For a Reuters live blog on U.S., UK and European stock

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Retail stocks edge up

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Applied Therapeutics ( APLT ) plummets after FDA declines drug

approval

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Markets to close at 1:00 p.m. ET

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Indexes up: Dow 0.31%, S&P 500 0.23%, Nasdaq 0.25%

(Updates at market open)

By Johann M Cherian and Purvi Agarwal

Nov 29 (Reuters) -

Wall Street's main indexes opened slightly higher in a

shortened Black Friday trading session, on track for monthly

gains as the holiday shopping season kickoff brought retail

stocks into focus.

Investors scrutinized retailers, expected to attract

millions of shoppers with their deep Black Friday discounts, as

customers started their year-end holiday shopping.

Adobe Analytics estimated consumers would spend a record

$10.8 billion in online purchases on Black Friday 2024, a rise

of 9.9% over last year.

Shares of Target ( TGT ) rose 1.5%, Hasbro ( HAS ) gained

3.7%, Costco climbed 0.8%, Walmart ( WMT ) edged up

0.4% and Nike ( NKE ) added 0.5%.

"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."

At 09:49 a.m. the Dow Jones Industrial Average

rose 140.39 points, or 0.31%, to 44,862.45, the S&P 500

gained 13.80 points, or 0.23%, to 6,012.54 and the Nasdaq

Composite was up 47.87 points, or 0.25%, to 19,108.35.

Information technology stocks including Nvidia ( NVDA )

and Apple ( AAPL ) helped boost the benchmark S&P 500,

while the industrial and financial sectors lifted the blue-chip

Dow.

Chip stocks rebounded from Wednesday's declines, sending

the Philadelphia SE Semiconductor index up 1.3%.

The small-cap Russell 2000 index rose 0.7% as yields

on Treasury bonds retreated further from multi-month highs.

Wall Street's main indexes closed lower on Wednesday, after

data showed signs of sticky inflation, bolstering bets the U.S.

Federal Reserve could adopt a cautious stance on interest-rate

cuts in 2025.

The three main indexes were on track for monthly gains, with

the S&P 500 set for its biggest one-month rise since

November 2023. The Russell 2000 index hit a record high earlier

in the week and was set for its steepest monthly rise so far

this year.

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 Trump's pro-business

policies could spur economic growth and corporate performance.

However, concerns prevailed that they could also stoke upside

price pressures, slow the pace of the Fed's rate cuts and weigh

on global growth.

Traders expect the central bank to lower borrowing costs by

25 basis points at its December meeting, but see it pausing

interest-rate cuts in January, according to the CME Group's

FedWatch.

Crypto stocks were up as bitcoin climbed 2.5%,

trading at about $97,000. MicroStrategy O> rose 4.3%, MARA

Holdings ( MARA ) added 6.2%, and Bit Digital ( BTBT ) advanced

7.7%.

Applied Therapeutics ( APLT ) plunged 75% after the U.S.

Food and Drug Administration declined to approve its drug for

the treatment of a rare genetic metabolic disease.

Analysts expect stock moves to be impacted by thin volumes

after Thursday's Thanksgiving holiday.

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 3.27-to-1 ratio

on the NYSE, and by a 2.14-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.

The S&P 500 posted 19 new 52-week highs and no new lows,

while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 75 new highs and 10 new

lows.