Stocks edge mostly higher in quiet post-holiday trading

Stock indexes are moving slightly higher in quiet, post-holiday trading Friday. A slump in the price of oil is pulling energy stocks lower.

THE EARLY SCORE: The Dow Jones industrial average rose five points, or less than 0.1 percent, to 17,818 as of 12:35 p.m. Friday on Wall Street. Earlier the Dow fell as much as 64 points. The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose four points, or 0.2 percent, to 2,092. The Nasdaq composite added 16 points, or 0.3 percent, to 5,132.

U.S. markets were closed Thursday for the Thanksgiving holiday. They will close at 1 p.m. on Friday.

ENERGY: Benchmark U.S. crude fell $1.08, or 2.5 percent, to $41.96 a barrel in New York. Brent crude, a benchmark for international oils, gave up 45 cents, or 1 percent, to $45.01 a barrel in London.

The largest losers on the S&P 500 were energy stocks. Consol Energy lost 54 cents, or 6.8 percent, to $7.46 and Southwestern Energy gave up 64 cents, or 6.8 percent, to $8.78.

THE QUOTE: Prudential Financial market strategist Quincy Krosby said oil prices gained a premium this week because of geopolitical tensions, but noted that the gains may not last long. Next week OPEC will hold a meeting in Vienna, and the group could send oil prices higher by deciding to cut back on production. Or, it could decide to keep producing oil at its present rate, which might make prices fall further.

That premium on the price of oil "can move up dramatically but also come down or dissipate just as quickly," Krosby said.

STILL RISING: Hewlett Packard Enterprise didn't miss a beat over the holiday break, adding 38 cents, or 2.7 percent, to $14.50. The technology services company, formerly a component of Hewlett-Packard, saw an increase in sales of data-center hardware during the fourth quarter. Its shares rose 3 percent Wednesday.

Spam maker Hormel also continued to rise after it posted strong-quarterly results and announced a planned stock split this week. The shares rose $14.7, or 2 percent, to $75.02 and are up 10 percent this week.

DISNEY DOWN: Late Wednesday, Disney disclosed that U.S. subscribers to its ESPN sports channel fell for the second year in a row, to 92 million of Oct. 3, matching its lowest total since 2006. ESPN's subscriber totals had hovered around 100 million for years.

Disney had said ESPN lost some subscribers but investors appeared shaken by the size of the losses. Shares fell $3.63, or 3.1 percent, to $115.04.

Small but growing numbers of people are skipping on traditional cable bundles and buying smaller, less expensive groups of channels instead. Investors in media companies are worried about potential losses of subscribers and revenue.

VIACOM SKIDS: A dispute over the health of media mogul Sumner Redstone hit Viacom's stock. In a lawsuit filed Wednesday, Manuela Herzer, Redstone's former companion, said the 92-year-old Redstone can't make informed decisions anymore and needs medical care at all times. Redstone, who holds almost all of the voting power in Viacom as well as CBS, said he is in good spirits and able to make decisions.

Class B shares of Viacom fell $1.08, or 2.1 percent, to $51.28.

BLACK FRIDAY: Today is Black Friday, a much-hyped shopping day when millions of Americans will hit the stores in search of bargains. Trading in retail stocks was quiet early in the day. Target rose 23 cents to $73.30 and Wal-Mart Stores dipped 22 cents to $60.02 Amazon.com stock fell 70 cents to $674.64.

CHINA PROBE: China's Shanghai Composite index had its worst day in three months on reports that two major Chinese brokerages are under investigation for possible violation of securities market rules. A string of Chinese securities executives have been detained or questioned following a plunge in share prices that began in early June.

The Shanghai Composite sank 5.5 percent. Hong Kong's Hang Seng dropped 1.9 percent.

BONDS AND CURRENCIES: U.S. government bond prices rose. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell to 2.21 percent from 2.24 percent late Wednesday. The euro fell to $1.06 from $1.0617 and dollar rose to 122.83 yen from 122.72 yen.