NEW YORK, Nov. 27 (Xinhua) -- U.S. stocks traded mostly higher on Monday, as retail stocks rallied in the holiday season.
At midday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average increased 28.41 points, or 0.12 percent, to 23,586.40. The S&P 500 ticked down 0.69 points, or 0.03 percent, to 2,601.73. The Nasdaq Composite Index inched down 11.55 points, or 0.17 percent, to 6,877.61.
The traditional brick-and-mortar retailers got a big boost following Black Friday, as investors expected strong sales during the Thanksgiving holiday.
Meanwhile, analysts have observed shifting consumer behavior in recent years as customers are more likely to make purchases online for better discounts and use mobile phones for convenience.
"The big story this holiday season is in mobile shopping. Retailers know this is where the audience is now and are delivering better experiences," said Mickey Mericle, vice president of Marketing and Customer Insights at Adobe.
"Shoppers looking for discounts are getting better at using smartphones to quickly close the deal, and we are seeing better mobile conversion this season at over 10 percent growth," Mericle added.
Shares of e-commerce giant Amazon increased 1.22 percent around midday on Monday.
On the economic front, sales of new single-family houses in October 2017 were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 685,000, according to estimates released jointly by the U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development on Monday.
This is 6.2 percent above the revised September rate of 645,000 and is 18.7 percent above the October 2016 estimate of 577,000. Enditem
