US STOCKS-Nike lifts Dow, S&P; tech stocks weigh on Nasdaq

The S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average were higher in late morning trading on Friday, boosted by Nike's decision to sell on Amazon, while the Nasdaq was little changed as a recovery in tech stocks sputtered.

Nike shares rose as much as 9.4 percent to a three-month high after the world's largest footwear maker said it would launch a pilot program with Amazon.com to sell a limited product assortment on its website.

The S&P technology index was up 0.18 percent but was still on track to post its biggest weekly loss in six months as worries about the sector's valuation prompted investors to buy defensive stocks.

"Tech has gone too far too fast and was due for a correction," said Terry Sandven, chief equity strategist at U.S. Bank Wealth Management.

"The sector's valuation is elevated but hasn't reached a point of extreme concern because it is still a 'buy-the-dip' sector and is expected to grow further."

A fall in bank shares also limited gains, with the financial sector down 0.1 percent.

Wells Fargo and Goldman Sachs were the biggest drags on the S&P and the Dow.

All three indexes are on track to post weekly losses.

At 11:06 a.m. ET (1506 GMT), the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 63.42 points, or 0.3 percent, at 21,350.45, the S&P 500 was up 4.79 points, or 0.19 percent, at 2,424.49.

The Nasdaq Composite was up 4.96 points, or 0.08 percent, at 6,149.31.

With the Federal Reserve keen on further raising the interest rates this year despite inflation remaining below their 2 percent target, investors have been keeping an eye on economic data for clues on the state of the economy.

Earlier in the day, data showed U.S. consumer spending rose modestly in May while inflation cooled. Even so, another set of data showed the University of Michigan consumer sentiment index at its lowest since November.

"In the next four to six weeks we'll get another set of economic data that will tell us if the Fed is justified in raising rates again this year," said Sandven.

Towards the end of the second quarter, the market witnessed a few volatile days with the S&P 500 and the Dow recording their worst daily percentage drop in about six weeks on Thursday.

Oil prices climbed for the seventh straight session on Friday in their longest bull run since April, but were still set for the worst first-half performance since 1998.

Micron reversed gains to fall 4 percent even after the chipmaker forecast better-than-expected profit and revenue for fourth quarter

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners on the NYSE by 1,596 to 1,125. On the Nasdaq, 1,437 issues fell and 1,219 advanced.

(This article has not been edited by DNA's editorial team and is auto-generated from an agency feed.)