NEW YORK: After the inflation-induced selloff earlier in the week, US stocks gained ground on Friday for the second day amid a sense investors may have overreacted. News that another multinational, this time single-shot Covid-19 vaccine maker and Dow-member Johnson & Johnson, was breaking up also added fuel to the gains.

While market participants still seem "very much fixated on inflation," FHN Financial's Chris Low said, "there could simply be sense that maybe we sold off too hard on Wednesday."

The benchmark Dow Jones Industrial Average accelerated its early gain, and was up 0.4 percent at 36,075.09 in mid-morning trading. The broad-based S&P 500 jumped 0.6 percent to 4,676.61. The tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index was 0.8 percent higher at 15,828.24, following news Tesla's billionaire founder Elon Musk was selling more shares Friday after offloading $5 billion on Thursday. The electric carmaker dropped 2.6 percent.

But Patrick J O'Hare of Briefing.com noted that "The S&P 500 enters today down 1.0 percent for the week, so it is going to have its work cut out for it if it is going to post a sixth consecutive weekly gain."

Investors were spooked Wednesday following official data showing annual consumer price inflation hit a 30-year high, which could force the Federal Reserve to hike interest rates.

Meanwhile, a survey from the University of Michigan released Friday said consumer sentiment fell to a 10-year low amid the growing inflation fears.

US pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson saw its shares gain 1.5 percent after it announced plans to break up, splitting its consumer health arm that sells Band-Aid and Tylenol from its pharmaceutical division that includes the single-shot Covid-19 vaccine. The spin-off will create "two global leaders," both of which will be listed on the stock exchange, the company announced.