The Nasdaq Composite, S&P 500, and Dow Jones Industrial Average were trending higher in late-morning trading Friday as traders returned from the Thanksgiving holiday ahead of a shortened trading session on Wall Street.

In company news, Meta Platforms' (META) Ireland unit will face a trial in October next year in Spain against 87 media publishing companies accusing it of unfair competition in advertising, a Madrid court said in a preliminary hearing. The company has denied this infringement claim, according to the court. The company's shares rose 1.2% in recent trading activity.

Citigroup (C) expects to complete next week the separation of Mexican consumer bank Banamex's systems from its other operations in Mexico. Citigroup intends to sell a portion of its stake in Banamex through an IPO and gradually divest the rest over time, The Wall Street Journal reported Friday, citing the bank. The company's shares climbed nearly 1% in recent trading activity.

The European Commission said it had closed its in-depth investigations into transfer pricing tax rulings for Stellantis's (STLA) Fiat, Amazon (AMZN), and Starbucks (SBUX), concluding that the rulings did not grant selective tax advantages. Stellantis was up 3%, Starbucks and Amazon added 0.3% each in the latest trading activity.

United Bankshares (UBSI) has secured the Federal Reserve Board's approval to acquire Piedmont Bancorp and its Piedmont Bank subsidiary. The Fed said in the order, which was issued Friday, that the merger would not have a significant adverse impact on competition. The company's shares were 0.5% down.

Tesla (TSLA) rose 2.3% in recent trading Friday after Wedbush said the company will likely unlock $1 trillion worth of artificial intelligence and autonomous opportunity as President-elect Donald Trump's administration "aggressively" heads down the AI/autonomous path. "We believe a Trump White House helps unlock autonomous/AI value to Tesla's stock as the autonomous/FSD timeline is accelerated starting in 2025," analysts said in the note.