By Abhiram Nandakumar
REUTERS - Wall Street was slightly higher in quiet trading on Wednesday morning, led by healthcare and consumer stocks after a flood of data that suggested that the U.S. economy was growing modestly.The data left intact expectations that the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates for the first time since 2006 when it meets for the last time this year on Dec. 15-16.
Worries about the fallout from the downing of a Russian warplane by Turkey, which weighed on stocks on Tuesday, eased as traders looked forward to Thursday's Thanksgiving holiday.
"The data that's already come out is going to be the key and I think the markets are probably going to be fairly lackluster today," said Michael Baele, senior portfolio manager at U.S. Bank Private Client Reserve in Portland, Oregon.
Data showed claims for jobless benefits fell more than expected to 260,000 last week, while durable goods orders for October, excluding aircraft, increased 1.3 percent, far more than the 0.4 percent expected.
Other releases showed that new single-family home sales rose to levels last seen in early 2010, easing concerns that the housing market was heading for a significant slowdown.
However, other reports suggested consumers were not in a spending mood, with consumer spending increasing just 0.1 percent in October compared with the 0.3 percent expected.
The University of Michigan's final index on consumer sentiment for November also fell short of estimates.
At 11:34 a.m. ET (1634 GMT), the Dow Jones industrial average was up 20.71 points, or 0.12 percent, at 17,832.9, the S&P 500 was up 1.09 points, or 0.05 percent, at 2,090.23 and the Nasdaq Composite index was up 9.92 points, or 0.19 percent, at 5,112.73.
Six of the 10 major S&P sectors were higher, with gains in the healthcare and consumer discretionary sectors offsetting losses in the energy and utilities.
Amazon, up 1 percent at $677.55, was the biggest influence on the consumer discretionary sector, while Pfizer's 3.2 percent rise to $33.02 led health stocks.
Crude oil resumed its slide as investors turned their focus back to a global supply glut, but shares of Exxon and Chevron were little changed.
Heavy equipment maker Deere was up 2.2 percent at $78.04 after its quarterly profit beat estimates.
HP Inc, the new company that houses the former Hewlett-Packard Co's printer and PC businesses, dropped 13.3 percent to $12.71 after it forecast an adjusted profit for the first quarter that fell short of estimates.
Hewlett-Packard Enterprise, which now holds HP's corporate hardware and services businesses, rose 3.3 percent to $14.15 after it maintained its profit full-year profit forecast.
Advancing issues outnumbered decliners on the NYSE by 1,680 to 1,235. On the Nasdaq, 1,569 issues rose and 1,049 fell.
The S&P 500 index showed 16 new 52-week highs and no new lows, while the Nasdaq recorded 68 new highs and 26 new lows.
(Reporting by Abhiram Nandakumar in Bengaluru; Editing by Ted Kerr)
