US STOCKS-Wall St climbs on tech strength, Nike tumbles on China miss

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Nike (NKE) slides as Q2 gross margins drop

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Oracle up as ByteDance agrees deal on TikTok US app

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Indexes up: S&P 0.55%, Nasdaq 0.69%, Dow 0.54%

(Updates after markets open)

By Sruthi Shankar and Shashwat Chauhan

Dec 19 (Reuters) - Wall Street's main indexes gained on Friday, as technology stocks extended their rebound from a selloff earlier in the week, while Nike (NKE) tumbled after weak China sales weighed on its quarterly results.

Nike (NKE) ?shares slumped 10.2% after the sportswear giant reported a drop in gross margins for the second consecutive quarter, hurt by poor sales in China and efforts ?to reset its product mix.

At 09:35 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 258.52 points, or 0.54%, to ?48,210.37. The S&P 500 gained 36.97 points, or 0.55%, to 6,811.73, while the Nasdaq Composite ?advanced 158.82 points, or 0.69%, ?to 23,165.18.

Tech giants gained on Thursday after chipmaker Micron Technology's (MU) strong forecasts re-ignited optimism around AI-related shares, which had recently come under pressure over lofty valuations and ?funding concerns.

Six of the 11 S&P sectors rose on Friday, ?with information technology leading with a 1.2% increase. The Philadelphia SE Semiconductor Index was up 2%.

This week, investors also drew comfort from U.S. consumer prices rising less than expected in November, but some ?analysts flagged that the data could be distorted due ?to the 43-day government ?shutdown that prevented the collection of October print.

Traders continued to bet on at least two 25-basis-point interest rate cuts next year from the Federal Reserve, according to LSEG data, while assigning a 24% chance to ?the first reduction as early as January.

"Even though the inflation picture may be improving, we still expect the Fed to stay on pause in the first half of 2026 in an effort to emphasize its independence, as it's under political pressure to cut interest rates," said Alexander Guiliano, chief investment officer at Resonate Wealth Partners.

The University of Michigan's final reading on consumer sentiment in December came in at 52.9 versus a preliminary estimate of 53.3.

Analysts warned of higher volatility ?on Friday ?due to "triple witching," which is the quarterly, simultaneous expiration of stock options, stock index futures and stock index options contracts.

Heading into the last few days of the year, prospects of a "Santa rally" would also ?be on investors' radar. Since 1950, that rally has seen the S&P 500 rise an average 1.3% over the last five trading days of the year and the first two in January, according to the Stock Trader's Almanac.

Oracle jumped 5.3% after TikTok's Chinese owner, ByteDance, signed binding agreements to hand control of the short video app's U.S. operations to a group of investors, including the cloud computing giant.

Parcel delivery company FedEx (FDX) dipped 3.5% after Chief Financial Officer John Dietrich said current-quarter earnings would be lower than the second-quarter results.

Lamb ?Weston dropped 19% after the frozen fries supplier maintained its annual sales forecast amid rising economic uncertainty.

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 1.17-to-1 ratio on the NYSE and by a 1.79-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.

The S&P 500 posted two new 52-week highs and one new low, while the Nasdaq ?Composite recorded 24 new highs and 46 new lows.

(Reporting by Sruthi Shankar and Shashwat Chauhan in Bengaluru; Editing by Shilpi Majumdar)