Stocks Advanced Modestly at the Open

U.S. stocks opened modestly higher on Friday, extending their gains for the week and month with retail stocks in
focus as holiday shoppers packed stores. The Dow lately rose 46.88 points, or 0.29%, to
116,144.21. The S&P 500 was lup 3.88 points, or 0.21%, to 1,811.11. The Nasdaq Composite gained
16.64 points, or 0.41%, to 4,061.39.

Retail giants Wal-Mart Stores Inc. WMT +0.25% and Target Corp. TGT +0.43% reported strong
Thanksgiving Day traffic in stores and online as shoppers honed in on big-ticket electronic items.

Leading global investors slashed North American bond holdings to a 3 1/2-year low in November as
expectations for dwindling U.S. monetary stimulus encouraged them to buy developed-market
equities, a Reuters survey showed on Friday.

Euro-area inflation stayed below 1 percent for a second month, less than half the European Central
Bank’s ceiling, underscoring the weakness in parts of the euro region’s economy.

Archer-Daniels-Midland Co. (ADM)’s A$2.2 billion ($2 billion) takeover of GrainCorp Ltd. was
blocked by Australia, prompting a record drop in shares of the east coast’s biggest crop handler
and a slide in the local currency.