US markets slipped in very thin holiday trade last Friday (with total composite volume of 4.704 billion shares - the second lowest full-day volume this year) albeit both the Dow and S&P500 logged their fifth consecutive weekly gain - Dow slipped -28-points or -0.11% and the broader S&P500 -0.05%, NASDAQ -0.08%. The benchmark indices finished with modest weekly gains, with the Dow up +0.4% and the S&P500 and Nasdaq both advancing +0.3%. In stock specific news, Nike Inc fell -2.3% company late last Thursday reported earnings that topped Wall Street estimates, but North American sales fell below consensus estimates. Shares of the Dow component are up 24.5% thus far this year. US equity and bond markets resumed trading on Boxing Day, with the Dow slipping -8-points or -0.03% overnight. The broader S&P500 eased -0.11% despite strong gains for the Energy sector (up +0.8%) after a sharp rally on crude markets. Retail shares, including Kohl's Corp (up +5.98%) and Macy's Inc. (+4.60%), enjoyed sharp holiday gains on reports of better-than-expected Christmas sales (indeed, the SpendingPulse report on national retail sales, across all payment types, said retail sales during the holiday season increased 4.9% from a year ago, the fastest pace of growth since 2011). The technology-centric Nasdaq fell -0.34%, with Apple falling -2.5% after a report from Taiwan's Economic Daily predicted the company would lower its forecast for first quarter iPhone X sales to 30 million.
