U.S. stock markets reopen Friday, with investors looking for a reading on consumer confidence on the U.S. retail sector’s most important day of the year.

The retail sector will be in focus on so-called Black Friday with as many as 132.9 million Americans expected to hit the stores. Discounts may be substantial to combat declining housing markets and rising gasoline prices.

U.S. stocks tumbled on Wednesday, with the Dow falling 211 points, the Nasdaq dropping 34 points and the S&P 500 losing 22 points.

After the Thanksgiving holiday on Thursday kept markets shut, U.S. trading is open on Friday until 13:00 ET.

Here at home, the Canadian dollar opened at US$1.0146 cents, down 0.11 of a cent from Thursday’s close.

There are no major economic releases from Statistics Canada.

In M&A news, Petrobank Energy and Resources Ltd. said late Thursday that it is buying Peerless Energy Inc. in a friendly deal valued at about $334 million.

Gold futures climbed US$10.10 to US$808.70 an ounce, while crude-oil futures slipped 61¢ at US$96.68 a barrel.

Overseas, the UK’s FTSE 100 rose 1.08%, Germany’s DAX index rose 0.34%, and France’s CAC-40 rose 0.56%. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index closed up 2.06%.

Markets in Japan were closed Friday for a holiday.

Toronto stocks finished higher on Thursday as bargain hunting investors snapped up bank shares.

The S&P/TSX composite index rose 100.42 points, or 0.78%, to 13,381.00. Trading volume was light with U.S. markets closed.

Shares of DundeeWealth soared to an all-time high on more speculation that the company could be sold. The wealth management company finished up $1.64, or 8.5%, to $20.85.

The junior S&P/TSX Venture composite index slipped 9.17 points, or 0.33%, to 2,791.79.