U.S. stocks open narrowly mixed after Thanksgiving Day

U.S. stocks opened mixed on Friday, a shortened post-holiday session, as Wall Street eyed retailers' Black Friday sales results.

According to Adobe Digital Index, consumers logged on on Thanksgiving day and spent 1.1 billion U.S. dollars between midnight and 5 p.m. ET. This is a 22-percent increase from the same period last year.

With no major economic data due out Friday, investors have been looking to next week, which will bring the key November employment data, the last jobs report before the Federal Reserve decides on interest rates at its Dec. 15 and 16 meeting.

Meanwhile, the European Central Bank (ECB) is scheduled to hold a meeting next Thursday, when the ECB could make a decision to further ease monetary policy.

Overseas, Chinese shares tumbled heavily on Friday, with the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index diving 5.48 percent, as news broke of investigations into major brokerage houses triggered widespread panic.

U.S. stock markets were closed Thursday for the Thanksgiving Day holiday and will be closed at 1:00 p.m. Friday.

On Wednesday, U.S. stocks closed fractionally mixed after wavering in a tight range as Wall Street digested an array of generally positive data.

Shortly after the opening bell, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 17.70 points, or 0.10 percent, to 17,795.69. The S&P 500 edged up 1.10 points, or 0.05 percent, to 2,089.97. The Nasdaq Composite Index rose 7.16 points, or 0.14 percent, to 5,123.31. Endi