S&P 500, Nasdaq rise as tech stocks gain, oil rebounds

By Sruthi Shankar

(Reuters) - The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite were higher in late morning trading on Friday as technology shares rose and oil prices rebounded from multi-month lows.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was little changed, weighed by a drop in Home Depot and UnitedHealth .

Oil prices rose about 1 percent, edging up from 10-month lows touched earlier this week but remained on course for its biggest first-half decline in almost two decades as production cuts have failed to reduce oversupply. [O/R]

At current levels, the S&P 500 energy index <.SPNY>, down 15 percent so far this year, is on track to post its worst weekly decline in about 18 months.

 

Apple , Microsoft and Visa rose between 0.5 percent and 1.5 percent, and provided the biggest boost to the S&P and the Nasdaq.

At 10:48 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average index <.DJI> was up 14.09 points, or 0.07 percent, at 21,411.38, and the S&P 500 <.SPX> was up 4.55 points, or 0.19 percent, at 2,439.05.

The Nasdaq Composite index <.IXIC> was up 13.53 points, or 0.22 percent, at 6,250.21.

The index is on track to post its first weekly gain after two weeks of declines following a drop in richly-valued tech stocks.

Among the laggards was the healthcare index <.SPXHC>, down 0.33 percent and the top decliner among the S&P subsectors.

Health stocks rallied on Thursday after Senate Republicans unveiled legislation that would replace Obamacare.

However, the bill drew skepticism from the Democrats, who attacked the legislation as a callous giveaway to the rich that would leave millions without coverage.

"The market is banking a lot of its future on the Trump trade. So when we see progress, the markets react positively to it," said Ken Moraif, senior adviser at Money Matters, a wealth management and investment firm.

Helping boost sentiment was positive economic data.

New U.S. single-family home sales rose in May and the median sales price surged to an all-time high, suggesting that the housing market had regained momentum.

Among stocks, Blackberry's U.S.-listed shares were down 11.8 percent after the company's quarterly sales missed analysts' estimate.

Bed Bath & Beyond shares fell as the company reported a bigger-than-expected fall in same-store sales in the first quarter.

A Deutsche Bank upgrade on steel companies, including US Steel and AK Steel , pushed up their shares about 4 percent.

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners on the NYSE by 1,901 to 765. On the Nasdaq, 1,719 issues rose and 874 fell.

(This story corrects bullet point and paragraph 16 to show that shares of Bed Bath & Beyond fell, not that they hit a record low.)

(Reporting by Sruthi Shankar in Bengaluru; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila)