Are you trying to come to terms with your holiday gift budget? If your list of gifts to purchase keeps growing longer, and the total keeps climbing higher, you may wonder if it would be easier to charge everything to a credit card.

U.S. stocks extended their advance last week, though gains were modest as investors balanced growing confidence in a December rate cut with a mixed run of economic data. The Dow added about 0.5%, the S&P 500 rose roughly 0.3%, the Nasdaq gained just under 1%, and the small-cap Russell 2000 also finished higher.

Markets finished November on a constructive note: the S&P 500 closed the holiday-shortened Friday session higher and finished the week up roughly 3.7%, while the Dow gained 3.1% and the Nasdaq gained 4.9%, capping a five-day rally that erased most of the month’s earlier drawdown.

Last week brought a marked uptick in volatility across equity markets, with sentiment challenged by a convergence of factors.

Markets wrapped up a volatile week with a mixed tone, as investors digested hawkish Federal Reserve commentary, lingering uncertainty from the recent government shutdown, and the tail end of earnings season.