An upbeat start to Black Friday lifted the markets to a higher open with the Dow gaining 26 points to 23,552. Nasdaq rose 11 points to 6,878.

On the upside

Advanced Semiconductor Engineering (NYSE: ASX) and Siliconware Precision Industries (Nasdaq: SPIL) has received all antitrust approval for their merger.

Macy's (NYSE: M) said that Black Friday traffic online as well as in stores was strong.

Weatherford International (NYSE: WFT) retained the services of Morgan Stanley to sell its units in the first quarter of 2018.

On the downside

Shares of Signet Jewelers (NYSE: SIG) continued to tumble.

Yirendai (NYSE: YRD) will hold its annual shareholder meeting on December 15, 2017.

Institutional investors sold a net of 47.25 million shares of Southwestern Energy (Nasdaq: SWN) in the last quarter.

In the broad market, advancing issues outpaced decliners by a margin of nearly 3 to 2 on the NYSE while advancers barely edged out decliners by a slim margin on Nasdaq. The broader S&P 500 added 3 points to 2,600. Bitcoin gained $54 to $8,176.