Wall Street pauses after mid-week rally

By Abhiram Nandakumar

REUTERS - Wall Street was slightly lower on Friday as investors digested U.S. corporate earnings as well as data that pointed to a slow global economic recovery, ahead of a crucial meeting of oil producers to help tackle a global surplus.

Crude was down more than 2 percent ahead of Sunday's meeting in Doha, led by top exporters Saudi Arabia and Russia, to discuss a production freeze.

The nervousness about the meeting overshadowed positive Chinese data, which showed the country's gross domestic product in the first quarter was in line with expectations - another sign that Asia's largest economy was on the mend.

Citigroup followed other big banks in reporting a lower-than-expected fall in quarterly profit. Citi's shares were up marginally at $45.14.

The S&P financial sector, which has been lagging other major sectors this year, has jumped about 4 percent this week as banks face tempered profit expectations.

"We're still digesting the strength we had in the middle part of the week," said Willie Delwiche, investment strategist at Robert W. Baird & Co. in Milwaukee.

"The fact that we haven't really given up much of what we got over the course of Tuesday and Wednesday I think is a sign of strength," he said.

At 12:38 p.m. ET, the Dow Jones industrial average was down 19.29 points, or 0.11 percent, at 17,907.14, the S&P 500 was down 2.31 points, or 0.11 percent, at 2,080.47 and the Nasdaq Composite was down 2.84 points, or 0.06 percent, at 4,943.05.

The S&P energy sector was the only firm loser, falling 1 percent, while the other nine major sectors fluctuated between small gains and losses.

A surge in oil and signs that the U.S. economy was back on track helped the S&P 500 recover from a rout earlier this year. The index is up nearly 2 percent for the year and is about 50 points shy of its all-time high.

Shares of BATS Global Markets jumped 20.6 percent to $22.92 after the exchange operator went public, the first non-healthcare IPO of 2016.

3D Systems were down 5.8 percent at $17.22 after Citigroup cut its rating on the stock.

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners on the NYSE by 1,591 to 1,330. On the Nasdaq, 1,454 issues rose and 1,223 fell.

The S&P 500 index showed nine new 52-week highs and two new lows, while the Nasdaq recorded 40 new highs and nine new lows.

(Reporting by Yashaswini Swamynathan and Abhiram Nandakumar in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D'Silva)