Virtually nothing happened on Wall Street from Wednesday onwards due to the closure of the NYSE for Thanksgiving and Black Friday. But that didn't stop Wall Street from racking up a fourth consecutive week of gains, for both the S&P500 and the Nasdaq. These aren't the only indices that are on a roll. Japan's Nikkei 225 continues its ascent, still benefiting from the enormous enthusiasm of Western investors. In the absence of Chinese thrushes, the big American management companies are flocking to Japanese stocks. Europe is trying to keep pace, with three rises in four weeks. But it's a little less sharp and a little more sluggish than on Wall Street.

The buzz word of the short US stock market week was "broadening". If you want to shine at financial dinners, say something like: "You see, James, we're really moving on, and we're seeing a broadening of the base of growth for US indices, beyond the magnificent seven". It's true to some extent: the locomotives are still running pretty well, but the station master seems to have hooked up the other wagons this time, having forgotten to do so since the start of the year. To put it plainly, the super large caps are still winning, but the other stocks are now entitled to go up too. This is somewhat reassuring for the market, which has less of an impression of a wobbly, vaguely fanciful rise.

US retail sales on Black Friday were up 2.5% year-on-year, according to Mastercard's SpendingPulse indicator, excluding auto sales and excluding inflation. The trend was driven by online sales (+8.5%), while in-store sales were flat (+1.1%). The news doesn't seem to have had much impact one way or the other.

U.S. stocks were flat this morning as investors await later this week the release of the Fed’s "Beige Book", which includes a myriad of reports about the economy, and the personal consumption expenditure index data for October, which is the Fed's preferred inflation gauge, to get more clues about monetary policy.

Economic highlights of the day:

US new home sales data for October is the main indicator on the agenda today.

The dollar is trading at EUR 0.9149 and GBP 0.7922. The ounce of gold is worth USD 2012. Oil falls again, with North Sea Brent at USD 80.20 a barrel and US light crude WTI at USD 75.29. The yield on 10-year US debt stands at 4.50%. Bitcoin is trading at around USD 36,870.

In corporate news:

  • Amazon.com reached an agreement with most of its employees in Spain on Monday, averting a strike that could have been held on one of the busiest days of the year, according to local trade union group CCOO and the company.
  • Choice Hotels International is preparing to appoint directors to the board of its rival Wyndham Hotels & Resorts, in order to complete its $8 billion takeover project, according to people familiar with the matter.
  • Elliott Investment Management, one of Crown Castle International’s main shareholders, intends to discuss with the group ways of boosting its share price, two people familiar with the matter said on Sunday.
  • Corteva - Berenberg downgrades its recommendation to "hold" from "buy".
  • GE Healthcare Technologies - UBS lowers its recommendation to "sell" from "neutral" and its price target to $66 from $86. The stock lost 2.7% before the opening.

Analyst recommendations:

  • Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc.: JP Morgan maintains its overweight rating and reduces the target price from USD 132 to USD 118.
  • Ametek, Inc.: Cowen downgrades to market perform from outperform with a price target reduced from USD 165 to USD 160.
  • Apple Inc.: Baptista Research downgrades to hold from outperform with a price target reduced from USD 210 to USD 208.90.
  • Arista Networks, Inc.: Haitong International Research Ltd initiates an Outperform recommendation with a target price of USD 240.
  • Astrazeneca Plc: Wolfe Research maintains its outperform rating and reduces the target price from USD 82 to USD 75.
  • Barclays Plc: Jefferies maintains its buy recommendation and reduces the target price from 300 to GBX 230.
  • Canadian National Railway Company: Deutsche Bank downgrades to hold from buy with a target price reduced from USD 125 to USD 121.
  • Canadian Pacific Kansas City Limited: Deutsche Bank downgrades to hold from buy with a price target reduced from USD 85 to USD 77.
  • Corteva, Inc.: Berenberg downgrades to hold from buy with a price target reduced from USD 63 to USD 52.
  • Factset Research Systems, Inc.: Morningstar maintains its sell recommendation and raises the target price from USD 375 to USD 390.
  • Fedex Corporation: Deutsche Bank maintains its buy recommendation and raises the target price from USD 295 to USD 338.
  • Micron Technology, Inc.: Morgan Stanley maintains its underweight recommendation and raises the target price from USD 58.50 to USD 71.50.
  • Norfolk Southern Corporation: Deutsche Bank maintains its buy recommendation and raises the target price from USD 233 to USD 258.
  • Okta, Inc.: JMP Securities downgrades to market perform from market outperform.
  • Old Dominion Freight Line, Inc.: Deutsche Bank downgrades to hold from buy with a price target reduced from USD 475 to USD 386.
  • Pinterest, Inc.: New Street Research LLP initiates a Buy recommendation with a target price of USD 48.
  • Rightmove Plc: Numis upgrades to buy from add with a price target raised from GBX 660 to GBX 675.
  • Shell Plc: Morgan Stanley initiates a market weight recommendation with a target price of USD 69.50.
  • Synopsys Inc.: KeyBanc Capital Markets maintains its overweight recommendation and raises the target price from USD 540 to USD 600.
  • Uber Technologies, Inc.: Gordon Haskett maintains its buy recommendation and raises the target price from USD 55 to USD 64.
  • Union Pacific Corporation: Deutsche Bank maintains its buy recommendation and raises the target price from USD 235 to USD 242.
  • Weyerhaeuser Company: Raymond James downgrades to market perform from strong buy.