5 Things to Know Before the Stock Market Opens on Friday

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Here are five key things investors need to know to start the trading day:

Stock futures trading was halted this morning after a data‑center “cooling issue” knocked out several Chicago Mercantile Exchange services. Individual equities continued to trade before the bell, and the CME indicated futures indexes and options would resume full trading at 8:30 a.m. ET.

The broader market has rebounded during the holiday‑shortened week, yet the three major indexes remain on track to close November in the red. The Dow and the S&P 500 are poised to snap a six‑month winning streak, while the Nasdaq Composite is on course for its first negative month in eight.

Today’s session will end early at 1 p.m. ET. The temporary outage underscores the growing reliance on high‑performance data infrastructure for derivatives markets and highlights the need for robust contingency planning as trading volumes shift toward algorithmic and high‑frequency strategies.

Black Friday has long been the flagship in‑person shopping day, but its relevance is waning. While millions still flock to stores, the event no longer commands the same consumer enthusiasm.

• Over the past six years, online sales have consistently outpaced brick‑and‑mortar spending on Black Friday, and foot traffic in physical stores has plateaued.
• Shoppers remain skeptical about the depth of discounts, whether they purchase online or offline.
• Retailers are adjusting tactics: many are launching holiday promotions earlier in the season, while others are spreading deals across multiple weeks to smooth demand.
• According to Deloitte, the average consumer is expected to spend $622 between Nov. 27 and Dec. 1, a 4 % decline from the previous year, reflecting tighter discretionary budgets.
• Gen Z continues to drive Black Friday activity, whereas older demographics tend to shift their spending closer to Christmas.

From a strategic perspective, the shift toward omnichannel retail forces brands to invest in inventory visibility, last‑mile logistics, and personalized marketing. Retailers that can seamlessly integrate online and offline experiences are likely to capture a larger share of the holiday spend.

Alphabet has emerged as a bright spot in an otherwise sluggish technology sector. Its shares have jumped more than 13 % this month as investors view the company as a front‑runner in generative AI.

Alphabet unveiled its latest Tensor Processing Units, codenamed Ironwood, and launched the Gemini 3 model, which attracted praise from leading AI researchers and venture capitalists. The firm’s AI‑centric revenue stream—spanning cloud services, advertising enhancements, and enterprise AI tools—positions it for accelerated growth.

Despite a 70 % YTD gain that makes it the top‑performing mega‑cap tech stock, analysts caution that Alphabet’s lead is marginal. Competitors such as Nvidia, Microsoft, and emerging Chinese AI firms are rapidly narrowing the gap with new hardware and model innovations. Maintaining a technological edge will require sustained R&D spending and strategic partnerships.

From a valuation perspective, the market has begun to price in a premium for Alphabet’s AI moat, but the premium remains sensitive to execution risk, regulatory scrutiny, and the pace at which enterprises adopt AI‑driven workflows.

The AI race between Alphabet and Nvidia has dominated headlines, but rivalry is spilling over into consumer hardware.

Alibaba launched its AI‑powered Quark smart glasses, positioning the product against Meta‘s Ray‑Ban‑branded wearables introduced earlier this year.

At the same time, Counterpoint Research reports that Apple is set to ship more smartphones than Samsung for the first time in 14 years, driven by robust demand for the iPhone 17 line. Apple’s market‑share gains underscore the premium‑segment resilience amid a broader market slowdown.

These parallel battles highlight divergent strategies: Chinese firms are leveraging AI to differentiate hardware and capture nascent AR markets, while Western incumbents double down on ecosystem lock‑in and high‑margin premium devices. The outcome will shape the future revenue mix for both hardware and services segments across the tech landscape.

U.S. consumers are increasingly turning to South Korean beauty brands. NielsenIQ projects “K‑beauty” sales in the United States to exceed $2 billion this year, a 37 % jump over the prior period.

Major retailers—including Ulta, Sephora, Walmart and Costco—are expanding their K‑beauty assortments to capture this momentum. In addition, Olive Young, dubbed the “Sephora of Seoul,” will open its first U.S. store in Los Angeles next year, signaling confidence in the market’s long‑term growth trajectory.

For manufacturers, the surge presents opportunities to upscale production, enhance supply‑chain transparency, and tailor product formulations to Western skin‑care preferences. For retailers, the trend underscores the importance of curated experiences, influencer partnerships, and data‑driven inventory management to stay ahead of rapidly shifting consumer tastes.

Here are some stories worth circling back to over the weekend:

— Contributors: Chloe Taylor, Gabrielle Fonrouge, Laya Neelakandan, Jessica Dickler, Sarah Min, Sean Conlon, Jennifer Elias, Arjun Kharpal and Luke Fountain. Edited by Josephine Rozzelle.