Wall St. edges up as small-caps bounce back

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stocks rose in late trading on Friday as small-cap names bounced back after recent weakness and consumer discretionary shares advanced.

The Russell 2000 <.TOY> gained 0.4 percent, rebounding after once again approaching correction territory, defined as a 10 percent drop from a recent high, earlier in the session.

The S&P 500 climbed back above its 50-day moving average near 1,868, an area that has served as support.

The week has been marked by weakness in small caps, however, with the Dow and S&P 500 still on track for slight declines for the week.

"The market's held in, and I think technically there's a sense it didn't break down. People came in expecting it was going to be another day like yesterday and the fact (is) it didn't turn out like that at all," said Ken Polcari, director of the NYSE floor division at O'Neil Securities in New York.

Shares of Verizon Communications shot up 2.3 percent to $49.05, boosting both the Dow and the S&P 500 after a regulatory filing showed Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway bought 11 million shares of Verizon in the first quarter.

The Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> rose 43.61 points or 0.27 percent, to 16,490.42. The S&P 500 <.SPX> gained 6.62 points or 0.35 percent, to 1,877.47. The Nasdaq Composite <.IXIC> added 19.80 points or 0.49 percent, to 4,089.10.

In earnings news, J.C. Penney Co and Nordstrom Inc both jumped more than 10 percent a day after posting earnings that exceeded forecasts. Nordstrom, up 14.3 percent at $70.32, was the S&P 500's biggest percentage gainer. The S&P consumer discretionary index <.SPLRCD> was up 0.8 percent.

Pfizer Inc rose 0.6 percent to $29.24 after the Dow component said it would submit a new drug application for Palbociclib, a breast cancer treatment.

(Additional reporting by Herb Lash; Editing by Jan Paschal)

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