Some profit taking can be expected when Toronto stocks begin trading Friday with the S&P/TSX composite index sitting at a five-year high.

Toronto stocks shot up Thursday, as the market cheered the federal government’s surprise move to cut the dividend tax rate and remove the fog of uncertainty surrounding the income trust sector.

Wall Street returns for a half day of trading after the U.S. Thanksgiving break.

U.S. equity markets close early at 1 p.m. ET. U.S. bond markets will close at at 2 p.m. ET.

There are no U.S. or Canadian economic releases today, on what is generally one of the lightest-traded sessions of the year.

Investors will also be digesting anecdotal reports of how busy U.S. retail establishments would be on so-called Black Friday, the year’s biggest shopping day, a number of retail stocks were moving up in pre-market trading.

In other business news, New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer has decided against pursuing possible criminal charges against former American International Group Chairman and CEO “Hank” Greenberg in connection with the insurer’s accounting scandal. Instead, Spitzer’s office is focusing on civil-fraud allegations against Greenberg and the company.

Markets in Europe were mildly higher, as the UK’s FTSE 100 gained 0.3% to 5,525, but Germany’s Xetra Dax was flat.

The Canadian dollar opened at US85.28 cents, down 0.06 of a cent.

Asian markets closed up in overnight trading, as Japan;s Nikkei 225 gained 0.3% to close at its highest level since 2000.

On Thursday, the S&P/TSX composite index soared 162.02 points, or 1.48%, to close 11,081.82, as the market cheered the federal government said it would cut the dividend tax rate and impose no new tax on income trusts.

Dividend-paying stocks in the Canadian finance sector were big winners as Royal Bank surged $3.08 to $90.88 and Bank of Montreal gained $1.67 to $61.75.

Shares in CI Financial closed $1.92 higher at $25.30. CI had earlier shelved plans to convert to a trust.

The junior S&P/TSX venture exchange finished up 12.88, or 0.63%, to 2,066.91.