Dow And S&P 500 Climb Into Positive Territory In Early Trading

(RTTNews) - Stocks have moved modestly higher in early trading on Friday, although buying interest has remained relatively subdued. The Dow and the S&P 500 have climbed into positive territory, but the Nasdaq is lingering near the unchanged line.

The early strength on Wall Street partly reflects a positive reaction to some key U.S. economic data, including a report from the Federal Reserve showing a bigger than expected increase in industrial production.

The report said industrial production climbed by 0.6 percent in July after inching up by 0.1 percent in June. Economists had expected production to increase by about 0.4 percent.

A separate report from the Labor Department showed that producer prices rose by slightly more than expected in July amid a notable increase in service prices.

Traders seem somewhat reluctant to make significant moves, however, with uncertainty about the situations in China and Greece weighing on their minds.

Most of the major sectors are showing only modest moves in early trading, although considerable strength has emerged among gold stocks. The NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index is up by 1.9 percent amid an increase by the price of gold.

Steel, tobacco, and telecom stocks are also seeing some early strength, while biotechnology stocks have shown a notable move to the downside.

Currently, the Dow is up 47.17 points or 0.3 percent at 17,455.42 and the S&P 500 is up 3.80 points or 0.2 percent at 2,087.19. The Nasdaq is down just 0.22 points at 5,033.34.