Today is Friday — the Friday after Thanksgiving. That means participation will be limited and trading volume should be extremely light. It also means the stock market will close early at 1:00 p.m. ET.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Of course, the Friday after Thanksgiving also means it is Black Friday, which is why the business media are going to be paying a lot of attention to the retail industry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The market has already paid its fair share of attention to the retail stocks, many of which have reported quarterly results and have provided guidance in recent weeks. Accordingly, it is a bit of a mystery in terms of how the retail stocks will fare today with the news spotlight cast on them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What we know at the moment is that the equity futures market is looking like the Friday after Thanksgiving, which is to say that it is not being governed with a great deal of conviction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Currently, the S&P 500 futures are up two points and are trading fractionally above fair value, the Nasdaq 100 futures are flat and are trading in-line with fair value, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average futures are up 45 points and are trading 0.1% above fair value.<\/p>\n\n\n\n