Friday's early afternoon trade: Main indexes up; Lyft surges after debuting on Nasdaq

Wall Street's main indexes rose on Friday, putting them on track to end the final trading day of the first quarter on a strong note, boosted by optimism over trade talks between the United States and China. The two sides said they made progress on trade talks, which concluded on Friday in Beijing that Washington called "candid and constructive", while Chinese state news agency reported the two countries discussed "relevant agreement documents".
A Chinese delegation led by Vice Premier Liu He will head to Washington next week for another round of talks.
"The conclusion of US-China trade talks on the surface, is being taken as a positive step towards a meaningful deal," said Peter Cecchini, managing director and chief market strategist at Cantor Fitzgerald in New York.
Trade-sensitive industrials rose 0.74 percent, while chipmakers, which have a large revenue exposure to China, also gained, with the Philadelphia chip index jumping 1.29 percent.
The broader technology sector gained 0.67 percent higher.
The benchmark index has risen 12.8 percent so far this quarter, its best performance since September 2009.
Latest data showed US consumer spending barely rose in January and income increased modestly in February, suggesting the economy was fast losing momentum after growth slowed in the fourth quarter.
At 12:57 p.m. ET the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 152.24 points, or 0.59 percent, at 25,869.70. The S&P 500 was up 11.97 points, or 0.43 percent, at 2,827.41 and the Nasdaq Composite was up 44.08 points, or 0.57 percent, at 7,713.24.
Ride-hailing startup Lyft Inc surged more than 20 percent after making its debut on the Nasdaq.