S&P set for best week in a year; consumer stocks rise

By Abhiram Nandakumar

(Reuters) - U.S. stocks added to their gains in early afternoon trading on Friday, with the S&P 500 on track for its best week since last October, as healthcare and consumer stocks rose.

The Dow Jones industrial average turned positive for the year, led by a 4.8 percent rise in Nike which announced a $12 billion share buyback and a 2-for-1 share split.

The stock also sent the consumer discretionary sector up nearly 1 percent, making it the top gainer among the 10 major S&P sectors.

Healthcare <.SPXHC> rose 0.8 percent, led by Allergan's 3.3 percent increase. The drugmaker rose on reports that the U.S. Treasury's new tax inversion rules were unlikely to thwart its proposed deal with Pfizer .

 

Earlier this week, minutes from the U.S. Federal Reserve's October meeting hardened expectations of a December rate hike but showed policymakers were cautious on further hikes.

"I think with the lack of catalysts or a large news story, the market wants to move higher and should end the day higher," said Tim Courtney, CIO of Exencial Wealth Advisors.

At 12:33 p.m. ET (1733 GMT), the Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> was up 110.54 points, or 0.62 percent, at 17,843.29, the S&P 500 <.SPX> was up 10.17 points, or 0.49 percent, at 2,091.41 and the Nasdaq Composite index <.IXIC> was up 30.19 points, or 0.60 percent, at 5,103.83.

Alphabet , Google's parent company, rose 2.2 percent to $776.44 after Reuters reported that the company was planning to launch the Chinese version of its Google Play smartphone app next year. The stock was biggest influence on the S&P 500 and Nasdaq.

Abercrombie & Fitch surged 21 percent to $23.55 after its quarterly profit more than doubled and same-store sales fell less than expected.

Foot Locker rose 5.2 percent to $64.73 and Ross Stores 8.6 percent to $50.16 after results.

Intuit was up 4.9 percent at $102.15 after the Tax-preparation software maker forecast full-year profit above estimates.

Autodesk fell 3.7 percent to $60.10 after it posted a third-quarter loss.

Sprint fell 5.4 percent to $3.82 after the wireless carrier said it would raise about $1.1 billion in cash through a sale and lease-back deal with a company backed by Japan's SoftBank.

Tesla was down 2.8 percent at $215.73 after it said was recalling 90,000 Model S sedans to check for a possible seat belt defect.

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners on the NYSE by 1,843 to 1,115. On the Nasdaq, 1,756 issues rose and 937 fell.

The S&P 500 index showed 31 new 52-week highs and six new lows, while the Nasdaq recorded 69 new highs and 67 new lows.

(Reporting by Abhiram Nandakumar in Bengaluru; Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty)