Stocks stumbled today, with the Dow, S&P 500, and Nasdaq all finishing modestly lower to start the last week of November. Ahead of a loaded slate of economic data, Wall Street today monitored spending data amid the Black Friday and Cyber Monday retail events. Elsewhere, the CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) rose for the first time in seven sessions.

GOLD HITS HIGHEST LEVELS SINCE MAY

Oil prices finished lower today, but bounced off their session lows, as investors await the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its Allies (OPEC+) meeting later this week. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) fell 68 cents, or 0.9%, at $74.86 a barrel.

Meanwhile, gold prices remained above the $2,000 level, hitting their highest level since May 16 amid a softer dollar and Fed dovishness optimism. As of this writing, gold was up 0.4% to settle at $2,009.65 an ounce.

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