STORY: U.S. stocks climbed on Friday, with the Dow gaining six-tenths of a percent, the S&P 500 up around half a percent, and the Nasdaq adding about two-thirds of a percent.That's after a day of thin trading volume during a shortened session on Black Friday, driven by gains in retail and a recovery in tech stocks....and after futures trading was temporarily disrupted in the morning following a CME Group outage that had frozen currencies, commodities and equity contracts around the globe.Expectations for a Federal Reserve rate cut in December strengthened throughout the week, helping underpin sentiment across equity markets.Chief market strategist at the Wealth Consulting Group Talley Léger says U.S. markets could be set for an upbeat year-end:"So we continue to like the pro-cyclical economy, sensitive areas of the stock market that really took it on the chin in the latest drawdown. I'm really talking specifically about information technology and consumer discretionary. // The thesis really is continued Fed rate cuts, softening bond yields, even mortgage rates that have come down alongside a weaker trend in oil prices, gasoline and a broader wealth effect that I think is really supporting the upper strata of the household sector."All of the major S&P 500 sectors were up except healthcare, with pharmaceutical Eli Lilly down 2.6%.Intel helped lead the S&P 500 with a 10.2% gain after a TF International Securities analyst said the company would begin shipping Apple's lowest-end M processor as early as 2027.But the three main U.S. stock indexes were lower for the month, reflecting growing concerns about stretched AI and tech valuations, with investors taking profits and reducing exposure.