Extreme Stock Trading Moves Expected for Black Friday

Stocks are trending higher today after the market was close don Thursday, and the week could end high for all three major indices.

Written by: Timothy St. John • Friday, November 28, 2025 • 2 min read

• Last updated: Friday, November 28, 2025

Stocks are trending up for today and for the week as a whole but remain bearish for the month.

Quick overview

The stock market experienced a brief outage on Black Friday, potentially increasing trading volatility.
November has been a bearish month for the Nasdaq and S&P 500, with both indices struggling to maintain gains.
The data center cooling issue affected various assets, contributing to heightened market fluctuations.
Despite a challenging month, there are signs of recovery in the tech sector as fears of an 'AI market bubble' begin to ease.

The stock market opened for the last day of trading for the month on Friday, and then briefly closed during an outage, which could heighten trading moves more than usual.

Nasdaq and S&P 500 are struggling to just break even this month and likely will not succeed.

Black Friday tends to be one of the most volatile days of trading for the year, and this one could be even wilder after a data center outage affected stock market trading early in the morning.

Stock trading was disrupted Friday morning after a CME data center suffered a cooling issue. At the time, the Dow Jones was up 0.1%, and the Nasdaq had climbed 0.2%. The S&P 500 was also up 0.1% for the day after remaining closed through Thanksgiving on Thursday.

Volatile Friday after Bearish November

Throughout the month of November, the stock market has mostly been trending downward. Even after months of straight gains for Nasdaq and S&P 500 indices, November looks to be the end of the run. Both of these indices were doing better on Wednesday and were starting to climb again on Friday as the market opened.

However, Black Friday is historically volatile. This is the last day of the month for the stock market to remain open, and it marks the end of a very busy week of trading and shopping. With the market closed on Thursday for the holiday, that puts more pressure on investors to make a move on Friday, and these tend to be significant moves to close off the week and the month, as investors make up for lost time.

A number of assets have been affected by the data center cooling problem, including gold, oil, and more, and that could create an even more volatile Friday. With a shortened trading week and the unexpected break in trading for Friday, we could see extreme moves to the downside and upside as the month closes off.

This week is set to be a winning one, but the larger month is unlikely to close high for the Nasdaq. That index is down 2.6% from its starting point in November, with months of decline led by fears over the longevity of the AI market. Numerous tech stocks that soared in September and August to all-time highs plummeted in November as one analyst after another talked about the “AI market bubble”, but it appears that the market is recovering and that bubble fears are dissipating.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR See More

Timothy St. John

Financial Writer - European & US Desks

Timothy St John is a seasoned financial analyst and writer, catering to the dynamic landscapes of the US and European markets. Boasting over a decade of extensive freelance writing experience, he has made significant contributions to reputable platforms such as Yahoo!Finance, business.com: Expert Business Advice, Tips, and Resources - Business.com, and numerous others. Timothy's expertise lies in in-depth research and comprehensive coverage of stock and cryptocurrency movements, coupled with a keen understanding of the economic factors influencing currency dynamics. Timothy majored in English at East Tennessee State University, and you can find him on LinkedIn.