US open: Stocks limp into long weekend

Wall Street's main indices are limping into quarter-end with technology issues again lagging behind despite better than expected readings on the economy.

Heading into the 4 July weekend, at 1531 BST the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up by 0.32% to 21,355.71 with the S&P 500 ahead by 0.15% to 2,423.46 but the Nasdaq Composite essentially flat, trading down by 0.02% or 1.04 points to 6,144.03.

Leading gains, by industrial groups the strongest areas of the market were: Footwear (7.59%), Distillers (3.37%) and Personal Goods (2.24%).

Market News International's Chicago business barometre jumped from a reading of 59.4 for May to 65.7 in June - a three-year high.

A gauge of new orders was especially strong, rocketing by 10.5 points to 71.9.

In parallel, personal income and spending figures for May were as expected by economists, with the most noteworthy aspect of the report being an increase in the personal savings rate from 5.1% to 5.5%.

The University of Michigan's consumer confidence index also came in above forecasts, with the final reading for June revealing a dip from 97.1 in May to 95.1 (consensus: 94.5).

Against that backdrop, oil prices were firmer, tacking on 0.8% to $45.29 per barrel, while 10-year US government bond yields were up by two basis points at 2.28%.

Still ahead on the economic calendar, Baker Hughes oil rig was set to publish its weekly oil rig count data at 1800 BST.

In corporate news, Nike shares surged after it reported a better-than-expected quarterly profit and sales late on Thursday and confirmed a deal to sell shoes trough Amazon.