Welcome to Seeking Alpha's Wall Street Lunch, our afternoon update on today's market action, news and analysis.

Good afternoon. Today is Friday, November 24th, and I'm your host, Kim Kahn. Our top story so far.

Investors will have one eye on stocks and one eye on Black Friday deals during the Shorten Trading Day.

Black Friday continues to be the most popular day to scout out deals,

with 72% of people planning to shop up from 69% in 2022.

Consumers are expected to spend an average of $875 on gifts, decorations, food,

and other key seasonal items over the winter holidays. To meet the demand, the National Retail Federation expects retailers to hire

between 345,000 and 450,000 seasonal workers in line with 391,000 seasonal hires in

2022.

The investing side of retail has been a mixed bag this year.

The SMP 500 Consumer Discretionary Index has soared 33% year-to-date,

led by names like Amazon, Chipotle, Expedia, and Royal Caribbean.

The S&P 500 Consumer Stables Index has declined by about 5%, weighed down by Canagra Brands, Dollar General, Tyson Foods, and Walgreens.

Divergence can also be seen throughout the retail sector last week.

shares of targets soared about 18%, following its Q3 earnings report.

Walmart dove 8% after striking a cautious tone on consumer spending.

In today's trading, stocks had a choppy day with low volume with the close at 1 p.m. Eastern time, but by the early

closing bell they had barely budged from the open. The Dow led the major

averages of 0.3% while the SMP rose 0.1% and the Nasdak fell 0.1%.

9 of the 11th-S&P sectors closed higher, led by health care,

but the two decliners were mega-cap homes, Infotech, and Communication Services.

Rates were higher, a follow through from the Global Bond Sell-off on Thanksgiving,

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