After the Turkey feasts enjoyed across the US yesterday, traders were probably feeling like the morning after the night before today.
Hence low volumes and a muted feel to today's US markets as the trading day on US markets was cut in half and Christmas festive season begins in earnest.
Black Friday, or shopping, was the main event with analysis coming out on how the bargain hunters fared yesterday and today - which is now famous for special promotions.
The talk was all e-commerce though as increasingly shoppers prefer to buy online rather than have the hassle of journeying to an actual shop.
By 5pm in New York yesterday, US$1.1 billion had been spent online, according to Adobe Systems, while the day as a whole is expected to total US$1.7 billion - 22% higher than a year ago.
Walmart (NYSE:WMT) shares are up 0.6% at the time of writing, e-BAY (NASDAQ:EBAY) is up 0.34% to US$29.10 and Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) lost 0.31%.
Another big story on the day was Allied Irish Banks (OTCMKTS: AIBS), whose shares added 7.78% as it seeks US$872 million from Citigroup in a legal case.
It comes as a 12 year dispute nears a trial set to kick off in January next year, focusing on claims the US bank helped rogue AIB currency trader John Rusnak hide losses.
AIB alleges units of Bank of America and Citigroup joined Rusnak’s scheme in 2000 by opening accounts for him.
AIB is seeking $372 million in damages against Citigroup and about $500 million “in pre-judgment interest,” according to a court filing, it was reported.
FRIDAY'S SHARE RISERS
KaloBios Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:KBIO) surged OVER 30% to $34.83 after Chief Executive Officer Martin Shkreli said in a Twitter blog that he would not lend any more stock to those looking to short sell it.
eFuture Information Technology (NASDAQ: EFUT) shot up over 94% as it emerged that Shijii (Hong Kong) has taken a stake in the company.
Arian Silver (CVE:AGQ) surged 25% to C$0.20 after the UK-based silver exploration company settled its outstanding debts with Quintana by handing over its flagship San Jose project in Mexico.