NEW YORK, Nov. 24 (Xinhua) -- U.S. stocks opened higher Friday, a holiday-shortened session, as Wall Street continued to digest the Federal Reserve's minutes from its latest meeting.
U.S. stock markets were closed Thursday for the Thanksgiving holiday and will close at 1 p.m. local time (1800 GMT) Friday.
According to the minutes released Wednesday, the Fed saw a possible near-term increase in interest rates but policymakers also expressed concerns about persistently low inflation, hinting that the rate hike pace could be more moderate than expected in 2018.
Fed officials agreed that the timing and size of future adjustments to the target range for the federal funds rate would depend on their assessments of realized and expected economic conditions relative to the Federal Open Market Committee's objectives of maximum employment and 2 percent inflation, the minutes said.
The Fed left its benchmark interest rates unchanged earlier this month, but did leave the door open for a December rate hike.
Market expectations for a rate hike in December stood at 91.5 percent, according to the CME Group's FedWatch tool.
The Black Friday season started Thursday afternoon as long lines began forming outside retailers like Best Buy and Target. Adobe Analytics data showed 1.52 billion U.S. dollars in online spending as of 5:00 p.m. (2200 GMT) on Thursday, marking a 16.8-percent growth year on year.
Shares of Macy's, Nordstrom and Kohl's rose more than 1 percent in early trade.
Shortly after the opening bell, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 35.27 points, or 0.15 percent, to 23,561.45. The S&P 500 added 4.96 points, or 0.19 percent, to 2,602.04. The Nasdaq Composite Index gained 10.84 points, or 0.16 percent, to 6,878.20.
