US STOCKS-Wall St ticks higher with indexes on track for weekly gains; FedEx jumps

By Purvi Agarwal and Sukriti Gupta

Sept 19 (Reuters) - Wall Street's main indexes nudged higher on Friday, with the Nasdaq continuing the previous session's rally to hit an intraday record, while FedEx rose as the parcel delivery firm posted upbeat quarterly results.

FedEx FDX.N gained 1.7% after reporting quarterly profit and revenue above analyst estimates on Thursday, as cost-cutting and strength in domestic deliveries helped offset weaker international volumes.

Apple AAPL.O gained 1.3% following a price target raise from J.P. Morgan, while Tesla TSLA.O was up 2.6% after a report of Baird's upgrade on the stock to "outperform" from "neutral".

Their gains boosted the S&P 500 tech .SPLRCT and consumer discretionary sectors .SPLRCD, up 0.5% and 0.8% respectively.

Conversely, financials .SPSY and energy companies .SPNY lost 0.3% and 0.9% respectively.

"We're still just calming from the Fed decision, what the expectation for monetary policy and the labor outlook is and how they're going to coexist," said Kevin Gordon, senior investment strategist at Charles Schwab.

"It's probably time for the market to sit back and reassess after a really strong rally."

At 10:03 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI rose 31.68 points, or 0.07%, to 46,174.10, the S&P 500 .SPX gained 13.74 points, or 0.21%, to 6,645.76 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC gained 98.63 points, or 0.44%, to 22,569.36.

The small-cap Russell 2000 index .RUT was down 0.1% after briefly hitting an intraday record high on the day. It notched a record close on Thursday, its first since November 2021.

The three indexes were set for weekly gains, wrapping up the week with the Fed's first rate cut of 2025 and indications of further monetary policy easing. Revived optimism around AI-linked stock trading also added to the rise.

Meanwhile, U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping spoke by phone, Chinese state media and a U.S. official said, as they seek to help keep TikTok online in the U.S. and ease tensions between two superpowers locked in a standoff over trade.

"To the extent it's (the call) wrapped into some broader discussion around trade talks and tariffs ... that's probably where the more important factor is," Gordon added.

Analysts expect some volatility from "triple witching", where options and futures linked to stock indexes and individual stocks are set to expire on the third Friday of the last month of the quarter.

Wall Street's three main indexes are in positive territory so far in September - a month deemed historically bad for U.S. equities. The benchmark S&P 500 has shed 1.4% on average in the month since 2000, according to data compiled by LSEG.

Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari on Friday said he feels that quarter-point sized rate cuts at each of the Fed's final two meetings of the year will be appropriate.

San Francisco Fed President Mary Daly is set to speak later in the day.

In other stocks, Lennar LEN.N fell 2.5% after the homebuilder reported a lower third-quarter profit and forecast fourth-quarter home deliveries below estimates.

Declining issues outnumbered advancers by a 1.32-to-1 ratio on the NYSE and by a 1.28-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.

The S&P 500 posted 15 new 52-week highs and seven new lows, while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 90 new highs and 21 new lows.