Market Recap - Week of November 24 through November 28, 2025
- Gordon Achtermann, CFP®, CSRIC®, MBA
- 2 minutes ago
- 3 min read
The S&P 500 index rose 3.7% this week in a broad climb that helped the market benchmark end the trading month with a November gain.
The S&P 500 closed Friday's session at 6,849.09, marking a 0.1% increase from where it started November. This marks a significant turnaround in a short time -- just a week ago, the S&P 500 had been down 3.5% for November. The index is now up 16% this year.
The climb came in an abbreviated week as the US stock market was closed on Thursday and had a shortened session on Friday due to the Thanksgiving holiday.
Investors are growing increasingly hopeful for the Federal Reserve's Federal Open Market Committee to cut its benchmark interest rates, especially after a report on private payrolls released this week by ADP showed a preliminary average decrease of 13,500 jobs in the four weeks ending on Nov. 8.
US September jobs numbers, released last week due to delays related to the government shutdown, showed higher-than-expected nonfarm payrolls. However, the unemployment rate worsened to 4.4% in September from 4.3% in August, a 4.3% rate had been expected. The government's October jobs numbers have yet to be released.
All sectors of the S&P 500 rose this week. Communication services had the strongest gain, up 5.9%, followed by a 5.3% climb in consumer discretionary and a 4.3% rise in technology. The smallest gain was recorded in energy, which edged up by 1%.
Last Week’s Economic Reports
Retail sales rose 0.2% m/m and 4.3% y/y.
Consumer confidence fell to 88.7 from 95.5 (full details: US Consumer Confidence)
S&P 500 Sector and Stylebox Returns
How to read the stylebox: The horizontal axis represents investment style, which can be value, blend, or growth for stocks and mutual funds. The vertical axis represents market capitalization for stocks, categorized into large, medium, and small companies. The number in each box represents the percentage growth of the category that is the intersection of the column and the row. For example, large-cap value is in the top-left corner of the box, so the large-cap value category is up by 12.4% YTD (year-to-date).
Thought of the Week
Last Friday, U.S. consumers, hungry for deals instead of Thanksgiving food, kicked off what is expected to be a solid holiday shopping season. A recent National Retail Federation survey suggests this Thanksgiving shopping weekend could have seen a record 187 million shoppers, with holiday retail sales expected to surpass $1 trillion for the first time. This season also raises an important question for investors: Who benefits most from U.S. holiday spending, domestic retailers or foreign producers?
The U.S. domestically produces most of the goods and services it consumes. Last year, imports represented just 14% of U.S. GDP. However, the U.S. may be more reliant on imports than this figure suggests, especially for goods often given as holiday gifts. This week’s chart shows the import content of different consumer goods categories, or the share of consumer spending attributable to value added abroad, as calculated by the San Francisco Fed. When U.S. households gift electronics or apparel, over 25% of that spending goes to imports, while the remaining 75% is retained domestically. The import content of recreational nondurables, which include toys, at just 17% may surprise some. However, this is because the bulk of their costs to consumers are driven by domestic expenses and markups.
Both domestic retailers and foreign producers have reason to cheer during the U.S. holiday season. That said, with a large share of our holiday dollars spent going toward imports, investors should remember two things. First, widespread tariffs could increase the cost of spreading holiday cheer this year. Second, those looking for exposure to U.S. consumerism can likely find opportunities across international markets trading at attractive discounts relative to their U.S. peers.
Source: JP Morgan (edited)
Up Next
Economic data will include manufacturing data, automotive sales, and ADP's private-sector employment numbers, all for November. The government is also expected to release the September personal consumption expenditures, which were delayed by the shutdown.
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Gordon Achtermann, CFP®
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