US STOCKS-Wall Street supported by rise in cyclical stocks
(For a Reuters live blog on U.S., UK and European stockmarkets, click LIVE/ or type LIVE/ in a news window)
* Financial, material, energy, industrial sectors gain
* Uber falls after losing UK case on worker rights
* Indexes up: Dow 0.33%, S&P 0.27%, Nasdaq 0.47%(Updates to open)
By Devik Jain and Shreyashi Sanyal
Feb 19 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks gained on Friday, helped by arise in economy-sensitive cyclical sectors, with the major WallStreet indexes on track to end the week on a dull note asinvestors rotated out of technology-related companies.
The S&P 500 technology and communication servicessectors, housing high-value growth stocks, were amongthe smallest gainers in early trading, while financials,industrials, energy and materialsrose more than 1%.
Microsoft Corp, Facebook Inc and Netflix Incfell between 0.5% and 1.0%, sticking to a trend seenfor most parts of the week.
"What we saw (this week) represents a market that is tiredand may not do very much. So we are headed for some sort of apullback, but I don't think we're there just yet," said PeterCardillo, chief market economist at Spartan Capital Securitiesin New York.
"Investors are not really pulling out of the market, butthey are becoming more cautious. It already has factored inanother good positive earnings season."
The benchmark S&P 500 and the tech-heavy Nasdaqwere tracking their first weekly declines this month, asconcerns over higher stock market valuations and a potentialsnag in inoculation efforts have led to fears of a short-termpullback in equities.
BofA expects a more than 10% pullback in stocks, which aretrading at more than 22 times 12-month forward earnings, themost expensive since the dotcom bubble of the late 1990s.
Strong earnings, progress in vaccination roll-outs and hopesof a $1.9 trillion federal stimulus package helped U.S. stockindexes hit record highs at the start of the week.
Meanwhile, data showed IHS Markit's flash U.S. manufacturingPMI dropped to 58.5 in the first half of this month, hurt by aglobal semiconductor chip shortage and extreme weather in largeparts of the United States.
Applied Materials Inc rose 8.3%, and was among thetop boosts to the Nasdaq, after it forecast second-quarterrevenue above market expectations, as demand for itssemiconductor manufacturing tools picked up during a globalshortage of semiconductors.
At 10:11 a.m. ET the Dow Jones Industrial Average wasup 102.89 points, or 0.33%, at 31,596.23, the S&P 500 wasup 10.59 points, or 0.27%, at 3,924.56, and the Nasdaq Compositewas up 65.79 points, or 0.47%, at 13,931.15.
Under Armour Inc rose 2.8% after Oppenheimerupgraded the athleisure apparel maker's stock to "outperform".
Advancing issues outnumbered decliners for a 2.88-to-1 ratioon the NYSE and a 3.01-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P index recorded 29 new 52-week highs and no new low,while the Nasdaq recorded 94 new highs and two new lows.(Reporting by Devik Jain and Shreyashi Sanyal in Bengaluru;Editing by Shounak Dasgupta)
