NEW YORK — The stock market ended November with its best monthly performance since the summer — even as investors worried about the strength of the holiday shopping season.
Stocks zigzagged Monday but finished modestly higher as traders ultimately were not deterred by reports that retail sales were uninspiring during the Thanksgiving weekend. Retailers including Macy’s Inc. and Saks Inc. fell sharply, but online merchants such as Inc. shot higher on reports of strong Internet sales.
Despite the tepid finish, the Dow Jones industrial average and the Standard & Poor’s 500 index rose more than 5 percent in November, their biggest monthly advance since July.
Investors may have had a muted reaction to the weekend- sales reports because expectations are low because of weak consumer confidence and an unemployment rate over 10 percent.
They also are buying stocks because other investments such as Treasurys don’t offer the big returns that companies’ shares do.
ShopperTrak, which follows more than 50,000 outlets, said retail sales rose 0.9 percent for Friday and Saturday, the start of the holiday shopping season, although fewer shoppers ventured into stores. Online sales jumped 11 percent Thursday and Friday, according to ComScore, an Internet-research firm.
Investors have been worried that rising unemployment would make shoppers reluctant to spend during the holidays. Traders are already looking to the government’s November unemployment report, due Friday, for clues about how consumers will spend this month and beyond.
The Dow rose 34.92, 0.3 percent, to 10,344.84. The broader S&P 500 index rose 4.14, 0.4 percent, to 1,095.63, and the Nasdaq composite index rose 6.16, 0.3 percent, to 2,144.60.
The Dow rose 632 points, 6.5 percent, in November, its fifth straight monthly gain. Gains of that magnitude might ordinarily take a year to build.
The S&P 500 index added 5.7 percent in November, and the Nasdaq rose 4.9 percent.
Arthur Hogan, chief market analyst at Jefferies & Co. in Boston, said investors remain cautious, in part because of the heavy flow of economic data due this week. Reports are due today on manufacturing and home sales.
“We’ve got a lot of signposts ahead that will help us choose a direction,” he said.
The S&P 500 is up 62 percent from a 12-year low in March.
