NEW YORK (CNN/Money) -
Tech stocks paced a market advance Friday in light trading ahead of next week's Republican National Convention.
The Nasdaq composite (up 9.17 to 1,862.09, Charts) rose about 0.5 percent. The Dow Jones industrial average (up 21.60 to 10,195.01, Charts) and the Standard & Poor's 500 (up 2.68 to 1,107.77, Charts) index both gained a little more than 0.2 percent.
All three major indexes gained on the week, responding to a pullback in oil prices and the impact of light volume. For the week, the Nasdaq gained 1.3 percent, the Dow gained 0.8 percent and the S&P 500 gained nearly 0.9 percent.
Late summer trading volume is often weak, but that's been exaggerated this week due to the impending Republican convention in New York.
The convention runs Monday through Thursday. Due to expected crowds and increased security measures, many New York-based Wall Street professionals are expected to work from home or go out of town next week.
After a tough few weeks, investors seemed to take a 'good enough' response to some of Friday's news, including the gross domestic product report and Novellus Systems' midquarter update.
Market breadth was positive. On the New York Stock Exchange, advancers beat decliners by more than two to one on light volume of 842 million shares. On the Nasdaq, winners topped losers by more than three to two as 1.01 billion shares changed hands.
Both the NYSE and Nasdaq saw their lowest volume days for the year Friday.
2Q economic growth slows
In a report released before the bell, the Commerce Department said second-quarter GDP grew at a 2.8 percent rate versus an initial reading of 3 percent. This met the average expectations of economists surveyed by Reuters. Economists surveyed by Briefing.com were looking for a 2.7 percent figure.
After a bunch of weak economic reports this summer, the GDP revision by comparison was taken as a positive, since it at least met estimates.
Chip gear maker Novellus Systems (NVLS: up $0.53 to $25.18, Research, Estimates) rose more than 2 percent, despite modestly lowering its forecast at its midquarter, which was updated late Thursday. Analysts said that due to recent comments from other semiconductor makers, investors may have been expecting an even worse forecast from Novellus.
A number of heavily weighted techs bounced, including Sun Microsystems (SUNW: up $0.04 to $3.82, Research, Estimates), Intel (INTC: up $0.25 to $22.02, Research, Estimates) and Applied Materials (AMAT: up $0.39 to $16.36, Research, Estimates).
Among other stock movers, drugmaker Chiron (CHIR: down $4.08 to $43.41, Research, Estimates) tumbled 8.6 percent after saying that deliveries of its flu vaccine would be delayed because of contamination issues. Following the news, Deutsche Bank Securities downgraded the stock.
TiVo (TIVO: down $0.37 to $4.43, Research, Estimates) fell 7.7 percent after the digital video recorder reported a quarterly loss late Thursday of 13 cents a share, steeper than the 7 cents it lost a year earlier, but narrower than the 24 cent-per-share loss analysts expected.
Sentiment rises, Greenspan plays it cool
Adding support was the upwardly revised University of Michigan consumer sentiment index. Released just after the start of trading, the August index came in at 95.9 from an initial read of 94. Economists expected it to hold steady at 94.
Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said in prepared remarks that rising pressure on U.S. finances from an aging population make it vital to quickly fix the social safety net. In his speech, delivered in Jackson Hole, Wyo., the Fed chief did not address the current state of the economy or interest rates.
Stocks edged lower Thursday as investors cheered a drop in oil prices, but they found little reason to put much money to work.
Oil prices seesawed, finally closing higher, following a five-day decline. NYMEX light crude settled at $43.18 a barrel, a gain of 8 cents.
Treasury prices fell, pushing the 10-year note yield up to 4.23 percent from 4.21 percent late Thursday. Bond prices and yields move in the opposite direction.
In the currency markets, the dollar gained versus the euro and yen.
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