MARKET SNAPSHOT: U.S. Stocks Turn Mostly Higher On Black Friday

By Nick Godt

Stocks managed to turn mostly higher on "Black Friday," the traditional start of the U.S. holiday shopping season, with subdued prospects for retailers, and an overall dire economic environment somewhat already factored in by investors.

A day after the Thanksgiving holiday, the market will close early at 1 p.m. Eastern Time.

"With the market [on track] for the fifth day of gains in a row, there's a bit of confidence returning," said Peter Cardillo, market economist at Avalon Partners. "This market has discounted a lot of negative news."

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) gained 12 points at 8,714, with 11 of its 30 components opening higher.

Auto sales somewhat less anemic

Auto sales posted a small rebound in November, but few analysts are taking it as a sign that the economy has finally turned a corner.

The latest figures from Edmunds.com show that new vehicle sales in November are expected to be 850,000 units, representing a 1.9 percent increase over October's figures.

However, most major automakers continued to see a substantial decrease over last year's sales figures. Two of the American "Big Three" automakers, Chrysler and Ford (F), led the decline with a respective 41.7 and 33.1 percent drop since November of 2007.