US STOCKS-S&P ends higher after gyrations on reopening optimism, weak data, trade woes

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(Updates to close, adds commentary)
By Sinéad Carew
NEW YORK, May 15 (Reuters) - The S&P 500 closed higher after
swinging between gains and losses on Friday as investors weighed
worries about Sino-U.S. trade relations and weaker-than-expected
U.S. economic data against growing optimism that easing
coronavirus restrictions would boost activity this month.
Economic data painted a grim picture on Friday as U.S.
retail sales and manufacturing output showed record declines in
April due to virus-related stay-at-home orders. The data came after U.S. President Donald Trump ratcheted up
trade tensions with China by moving to block semiconductor
shipments to China's Huawei Technologies HWT.UL from global
chipmakers.
China was swift to respond with a report saying it was ready
to put U.S. companies on an "unreliable entity list," according
to the Global Times. The combination of trade tensions and weak data had sent S&P
500 down around 1.3% earlier in the session but for much of the
afternoon session it oscillated between positive and negative
territory.
"We got the Friday jitters on China trade but late this
afternoon the market turned its focus on reopenings," said John
Augustine, chief investment officer at Huntington National Bank
in Columbus, Ohio.
"We're smack in the middle of May and think this might be
the worst of the economic numbers. There's a chance they start
to slowly turn positive," said Augustine citing moves by most
states to at least partially reopen their economies.
Unofficially, the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI rose
60.08 points, or 0.25%, to 23,685.42, the S&P 500 .SPX gained
11.2 points, or 0.39%, to 2,863.7 and the Nasdaq Composite
.IXIC added 70.84 points, or 0.79%, to 9,014.56.
The trade worries sent the Philadelphia Semiconductor index
.SOX down on the day.
"Today has very much been about this battle of conflicting
factors," said Ed Perks, multi-asset solutions' chief investment
officer at Franklin Templeton, adding that without "something
that's going to give us direction" investors are viewing it as a
lackluster Friday.
The small-cap Russell 2000 .RUT outperformed and among its
top percentage gainers was Sorrento Therapeutics Inc SRNE.O
after the company's experimental antibody candidate showed
potential in blocking COVID-19 infections in early studies.