The New York Stock Exchange is set to open slightly higher on Friday morning, with retail stocks leading the way as Black Friday marks the start of the year-end shopping season.

Approximately half an hour before the start of trading, futures contracts on the main New York indices are up by between 0.1% and 0.2%, suggesting a modest advance at the start of the session.

Closed yesterday for the Thanksgiving holiday, Wall Street will resume trading for only half a day today, closing at 1:00 pm (local time).

In the absence of any economic indicators, trading volumes are expected to be thin, with many investors opting to "bridge the gap" to spend time with their families.

As is often the case at this time of year, consumer-related stocks will be the most closely watched due to the various commercial operations organized for Black Friday.

This day, which comes the day after Thanksgiving, unofficially kicks off the end-of-year shopping season with major promotional offers.

The National Retail Federation (NRF), the industry's main organization, is forecasting an increase of between 2.5% and 3.5% in retail sales for November and December as a whole.

According to the trade association, a record 183.4 million Americans are expected to shop this weekend.

This year, the most sought-after items will be clothing (54%), gift cards (44%), toys (36%), books, video games and other cultural items (31%) and confectionery (30%), says the NRF.

Some analysts nevertheless point out that, in view of recent strong stock market performances, particularly by retail stocks, hopes of a solid Christmas season are now well integrated into share prices.

On the currency markets, the dollar retreated against the euro, which climbed back above 1.0560 following eurozone inflation figures that seemed to rule out the scenario of an aggressive 50 basis point rate cut by the ECB in December.

Treasuries continue to rally, pushing the ten-year yield back to near its lowest level in a month, around 4.20%.

The price of US light crude is up 0.7% to $69.2, as investors look ahead to next week's meeting of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries.

For the week as a whole, which will be reduced to three and a half sessions, the Dow Jones is up by just under 1% at this stage, while the Nasdaq is up a more modest 0.3%.

Next week should be a livelier one on Wall Street, as investors await the monthly employment figures to be released on Friday, which will be particularly closely watched ahead of the Fed meeting on December 17 and 18.

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