Wall St gains in thin trade

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By Charles Mikolajczak

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stocks rose on Friday on light volume in an abbreviated session, capping the best week for the S&P 500 since at least 1980, as investors hoped government and central bank moves unveiled this week would boost the economy.

For the Dow industrials, Friday's close marked five straight days of gains for the first time since November 2007.

Economic bellwethers such as General Electric and financial stocks rallied and helped overshadow weakness in retailers' shares, which slumped on concerns the weak economy may hurt sales during the holiday shopping season.

Traders said financials were gaining strength after the U.S. Federal Reserve outlined an $800 billion lending facility to support the market for consumer debt securities. An S&P index of financial stocks <.GSPF> rose 2.9 percent.

"A combination of thin holiday trading and today being the last day of the month contributed to some buying in the last 30 minutes," said Michael James, senior trader at regional investment bank Wedbush Morgan in Los Angeles.

Financial shares "rose on the bet that the rally this week will be sustained. The important part for me was the government plan to buy the mortgage-backed securities, which dramatically drove down interest rates this week."

The Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> shot up 102.43 points, or 1.17 percent, to end at 8,829.04. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.SPX> advanced 8.56 points, or 0.96 percent, to finish at 896.24. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.IXIC> added 3.47 points, or 0.23 percent, to close at 1,535.57.

The U.S. stock market's session ended at 1 p.m. (1800 GMT) on Friday after the Thanksgiving holiday.

For the week, the Dow gained 9.7 percent, while the S&P 500 jumped 12 percent and the Nasdaq surged 10.9 percent.

November, though, was a bleak month for the U.S. stock market, with the Dow losing 5.3 percent for November, the S&P 500 falling 7.5 percent, and the Nasdaq tumbling 10.8 percent.

In Friday's session, GE climbed 6.1 percent to $17.17 and helped lift both the Dow and the S&P 500.

The Dow's top advancers included Caterpillar , up 4.2 percent at $40.99, and Coca-Cola Co , up 3.3 percent at $46.87.

In the financial sector, shares of Citigroup jumped 17.6 percent to $8.29 on the New York Stock Exchange, while American Express gained 4.5 percent to $23.31, Bank of America climbed 5.3 percent to $16.25, and JPMorgan Chase & Co advanced 3.4 percent to $31.66.

Yahoo Inc shares gained 8.8 percent to $11.51 and gave the Nasdaq one of its biggest lifts after billionaire activist investor Carl Icahn disclosed that he has raised his stake in the Internet company.

But investors shunned retailers' shares on "Black Friday,"

the annual kick-off to the holiday shopping season, as consumers indicated they plan to spend less this year. Wall Street and Main Street alike are worried about how stores will fare this holiday season in an economy troubled by increasing job losses and shaky credit.

The long Thanksgiving holiday weekend will be a test of how willing consumers are to spend as the country faces its worst financial crisis since the Great Depression.

Shares of Wal-Mart Stores Inc , the world's largest retailer and a Dow component, fell 1.4 percent to $55.88 on the NYSE. The S&P's retail index <.RLX> slumped 1.6 percent.

Another weak spot was the energy sector, with Chevron down 1.2 percent at $79.01 as OPEC ministers convened to deliberate further supply cuts to curb flagging global demand. U.S. crude oil for January delivery dipped 1 cent to settle at $54.43 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Volume was light, as expected, on the Friday after Thanksgiving, when the U.S. stock market was closed for the holiday.

On the New York Stock Exchange, only about 786.97 million shares changed hands, well below last year's estimated daily average of 1.90 billion.

Advancers outnumbered decliners on the NYSE by about 2 to 1 on both the NYSE and the Nasdaq.

(Editing by Jan Paschal)

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