Friday's early trade: S&P, Dow gain as earnings optimism offsets trade tensions

The S&P 500 and Dow rose on Friday as a clutch of upbeat quarterly earnings overshadowed worries of an escalating trade war between the United States and China, after Beijing proposed new tariffs on $60 billion worth of US goods. China's retaliatory tariffs on US goods ranged from liquefied natural gas (LNG) to certain types of aircraft and came after President Donald Trump proposed 25 percent tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese imports.
Trade-sensitive stocks such as Boeing and Caterpillar fell 0.7 percent and 0.4 percent. LNG exporter Cheniere Energy dropped 2.2 percent. "The rhetoric between US and China has been ongoing and everyone has already made their bets on what the trade war is going to be," said Craig Hodges, portfolio manager with Hodges Funds in Dallas, Texas.
The S&P consumer staples sector rose 1.17 percent and led gains among the major S&P sectors. Kraft Heinz jumped 8 percent and was the biggest boost to the sector after the company topped quarterly profit and revenue estimates. Take-Two jumped 10.5 percent, the most on the benchmark S&P 500, after the videogame maker's quarterly revenue topped estimates. Its rival Activision Blizzard forecast revenue that was below expectations.
However, a fall in technology companies such as Google-parent Alphabet, which was down 0.6 percent, and Activision Blizzard's 3.8 percent drop weighed on the Nasdaq. At 12:36 p.m. ET the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 90.32 points, or 0.36 percent, at 25,416.48, the S&P 500 was up 7.20 points, or 0.25 percent, at 2,834.42 and the Nasdaq Composite was down 4.35 points, or 0.06 percent, at 7,798.34. Only two of the 11 major S&P sectors were lower. The energy sector fell 0.77 percent on the back of lower crude oil prices.