Top Stocks to Watch After Thanksgiving Week

Core Insights - The holiday shopping season begins with Thanksgiving, Black Friday, and Cyber Monday, which are critical for gauging consumer economic strength and stock market performance [1][2]. Market Performance Post-Thanksgiving - Historically, the week after Thanksgiving has shown a bullish trend, with an average gain of 0.66% for the S&P 500 Index (SPX), compared to 0.18% for a typical week [3][4]. - 69% of the post-Black Friday weeks have been positive, indicating a stronger performance than the average of 57% for all weeks [3][4]. Daily Performance Breakdown - Cyber Monday has been particularly poor for SPX, averaging a loss of 0.26% with only 40% of returns positive [6]. - The best performing days in the week after Thanksgiving are Wednesday and Friday, with Friday averaging a gain of 0.55% and 77% of returns positive [6][7]. Longer-Term Market Trends - Stronger performance in the week after Thanksgiving correlates with better returns over the next three months. A gain of at least 1% after Thanksgiving week leads to an average return of 3.9% over the following three months [9][10]. - Conversely, a negative week after Thanksgiving results in an average loss of 4.1% over the next three months [10][11]. Year-End Performance - The SPX typically performs well for the rest of the year, with a gain of 1.6% when the post-Thanksgiving week is down 1% or more, and 0.52% when it is up by 1% or more [13][14]. Notable Stocks for the Holiday Season - Hewlett Packard Enterprises (HPE) and CME Group (CME) have been positive every year during the week after Thanksgiving, while retailers like Ross Stores (ROST), Nike (NKE), and Target (TGT) also show strong performance [17][18]. - Major retailers such as Amazon.com (AMZN) and Walmart (WMT) have underperformed, with AMZN averaging a return of 0.85% and WMT showing a slight loss of -0.13% [19].