Stocks Posted Third Straight Week of Gains

U.S. stocks ended a holiday-shortened session with gains on Friday, with the three main indexes hitting record intraday highs, helped by gains in consumer staples and technology stocks. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 68.96 points, or 0.36%, to 19,152.14. The S&P 500 rose 8.63 points, or 0.39%, to 2,213.35. The Nasdaq Composite rose 18.24 points, or 0.34%, to 5,398.92. For the week, both the Dow and the Nasdaq rose 1.5%, while the S&P gained 1.4%.

Oil futures prices fell Friday, as traders adopted a wait-and-see stance ahead of next week’s crucial production meeting of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries. West Texas Intermediate crude futures finished down $2.02, or 4.2%, at $45.93 a barrel. Brent crude fell $1.92, or 3.9%, to $47.08 a barrel on London’s ICE Futures exchange.

Crowds were thin at U.S. malls and stores on Black Friday morning, formerly the traditional start of the holiday shopping season, and online channels were expected to show the strongest gains in sales over last year.

Wells Fargo (WFC) customers have opened a class action lawsuit against the bank over the opening of unauthorized accounts in their names.