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* U.S. consumer spending barely rises in August
* Wells Fargo rises on new CEO appointment
* Micron Tech falls on weak Q1 profit outlook
* Indexes: Dow up 0.10%, S&P off 0.09%, Nasdaq down 0.37%
(Updates to open)
By Ambar Warrick and Medha Singh
Sept 27 (Reuters) - The S&P 500 and Nasdaq slipped on
Friday, pulled lower by a slide in Micron shares after the
chipmaker blamed U.S.-China trade tensions for its downbeat
first-quarter profit forecast, but gains in financials kept the
Dow in positive territory.
Shares in Wells Fargo & Co WFC.N rose 4.4% and were among
the top gainers on the S&P 500 .SPX after the lender named
banking veteran Charles Scharf as chief executive officer.
The news boosted the bank sub-sector .SPXBK , which rose
1.43%, while the broader financial sector was up 0.65%.
The chip sector, however, came under pressure after Micron
Technology Inc MU.O tumbled 9.8% and drove a 1.2% fall in
Philadelphia semiconductor index .SOX .
Upbeat comments on trade from China's foreign minister Wang
Yi offset some of the shock from the launching of an impeachment
inquiry into President Donald Trump and helped stem losses in
late Thursday session.
Markets now await high-level trade talks between Washington
and Beijing next month.
Yet analysts and traders say the volatility of the
day-to-day messages from both sides in a conflict that dates
back over a year has left investors with little faith that a
full-scale resolution is in prospect any time soon.
"Could we get a positive headline on trade? Yes. But it will
be optics at best," said Peter Cecchini, chief market strategist
at Cantor Fitzgerald in New York. "I don't expect anything that
happens before the elections to be a comprehensive deal."
At 10:12 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI
was up 26.83 points, or 0.10%, at 26,917.95 and the S&P 500
.SPX was down 2.66 points, or 0.09%, at 2,974.96. The Nasdaq
Composite .IXIC was down 30.05 points, or 0.37%, at 8,000.62.
All three main indexes are set to end the week slightly
lower.
Data showed U.S. consumer spending barely rose in August,
suggesting that the economy's main growth engine was slowing
after accelerating sharply in the second quarter. New orders for key U.S.-made capital goods also unexpectedly
fell in August but the so-called core PCE price index, the Fed's
preferred inflation measure, rose to 1.8% in August, the biggest
rise in prices since January. issues outnumbered decliners by a 1.18-to-1 ratio
on the NYSE and a 1.05-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P index recorded 10 new 52-week highs and two new
lows, while the Nasdaq recorded 14 new highs and 51 new lows.