US STOCKS-Wall Street steadies as tech stocks gain on limited trade deal

(For a live blog on the U.S. stock market, click LIVE/ or
type LIVE/ in a news window.)
* Apple leads gains among tech stocks
* U.S.-China strike Phase One trade deal
* Indexes up: Dow 0.05%, S&P 500 0.08%, Nasdaq 0.30%

(Adds comments, updates to early afternoon)
By Shreyashi Sanyal
Dec 13 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks gained ground in early
afternoon trading on Friday after a tumultuous morning, as a
limited trade deal between the United States and China paved the
way for a rise in technology shares.
Stocks swung between gains and losses, as investors were
confused about signs of progress despite comments from both
sides that they had arrived at an initial agreement.
The S&P 500 tech sector .SPLRCT rose 0.8%, with a 1.2%
gain in shares of Apple Inc AAPL.O leading advancers. The
sector is already the best performer this year with its 44%
surge. Wall Street's main indexes hit fresh record highs earlier in
the session as Beijing said it had agreed on the context of a
trade pact with Washington, but drifted lower after comments
that a deal had not yet been formally signed. "The broadest takeaway is that this clearly represents a
positive step forward and there is no longer an escalation in
the process," said Bill Northey, senior investment director at
U.S. Bank Wealth Management in Helena, Montana.
"But we are still in a scenario where the underlying details
are yet to be revealed and until there is ink to paper, there
will be some degree of uncertainty."
A positive tone on trade, a dovish Federal Reserve and
strong domestic economic data have fueled a recent Wall Street
rally, with the benchmark S&P 500 up 26% so far in 2019 and on
track for its best annual performance in six years.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI was up 15.05 points,
or 0.05%, at 28,147.10, the S&P 500 .SPX was up 2.53 points,
or 0.08%, at 3,171.10 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC was up
26.28 points, or 0.30%, at 8,743.60.
U.S. investors also missed out on a global rally fueled by a
landslide victory for British Prime Minister Boris Johnson that
paves the way for an orderly Brexit and lifts some of the fog on
the global economic horizon. MKTS/GLOB
Meanwhile, the U.S. House of Representatives committee
approved charges of abuse of power and obstruction against
President Donald Trump, making it almost certain he will become
the third American president in history to be impeached.
Broadcom Inc AVGO.O dropped 4% as analysts were wary of
the chipmaker's revenue forecast for 2020. Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 1.04-to-1 ratio
on the NYSE. Declining issues outnumbered advancers for a
1.20-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P index recorded 73 new 52-week highs and one new low,
while the Nasdaq recorded 99 new highs and 38 new lows.