Intel, health stocks pull Wall Street out of slide

By Amy Caren Daniel

(Reuters) - Intel and other chipmakers helped U.S. stocks overturn losses and move higher in late morning trading on Friday, while gains in energy and healthcare stocks also boosted the market.

Intel shrugged off a weak open to jump 2.9 percent after saying it could meet its full-year revenue target and is prioritizing the production of chips used in personal computers.

Nvidia advanced 3.6 percent, the most on the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 after Evercore ISI said the chipmaker was "on the cusp of a tipping point in the company becoming the AI standard platform."

The Philadelphia SE Semiconductor index rose 0.16 percent, boosting the S&P technology sector, which rose 0.31 percent.

Nine of the 11 major S&P sectors were higher, with energy stocks rising 0.70 percent as oil prices gained after U.S. sanctions on Tehran squeezed Iranian crude exports, tightening supply.

Health stocks were up 0.28 percent, boosted by gains in Medtronic, Merck and Stryker.

Economic data was also upbeat.

Consumer spending rose steadily in August, the Commerce Department said, supporting expectations of solid economic growth in the third quarter, while a measure of underlying inflation remained at the Federal Reserve's two percent target for a fourth straight month.

At 11:41 a.m. EDT the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 50.44 points, or 0.19 percent, at 26,490.37, the S&P 500 was up 3.99 points, or 0.14 percent, at 2,917.99 and the Nasdaq Composite was up 9.50 points, or 0.12 percent, at 8,051.47.

The S&P and the Dow were on track for their best third-quarter performance since 2010.

Financials slipped 0.56 percent, led by declines in the big U.S. lenders, as Treasury yields fell and the yield curve stayed at its flattest levels in over a week.

Tesla sank 11.2 percent and was on track for its worst day since November 2013 over worries that a lawsuit from U.S. regulators could force Chief Executive Elon Musk to step down and make it difficult for the loss-making electric-car maker to raise more capital.

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 1.89-to-1 ratio on the NYSE and a 1.47-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.

The S&P index recorded 22 new 52-week highs and 15 new lows, while the Nasdaq recorded 60 new highs and 62 new lows.

(Reporting by Amy Caren Daniel in Bengaluru; Editing by Arun Koyyur)