Wall St. bounces after selloff, GDP data

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stocks were climbing in the early stages of trading on Friday, with major indexes bouncing back modestly from their biggest drop since July, after data showed the economy grew at its fastest pace in more than two years.

The Commerce Department raised its estimate of gross domestic product to show the economy expanded at a 4.6 percent annual rate, in line with expectations and the best performance since the fourth quarter of 2011.

Major indexes saw their biggest declines since July 31 on Thursday in a broad selloff, with the S&P 500 falling through a key technical support level as Apple slumped and the dollar hit a four-year high.

"The equity market in general is looking for near-term conviction," said Terry Sandven, senior equity strategist at U.S. Bank Wealth Management in Minneapolis.

"In recent months, the 'Goldilocks' scenario of modest growth and tame inflation (has) largely been in play and the economy has not been too slow or too fast, and in recent days that characterization is being challenged a bit."

The S&P has dropped for four of the past five sessions and closed below its 50-day moving average for the first time since Aug. 15. That level had previously served as support, and a protracted period underneath it could signal further losses.

The Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> was rising 83.22 points, or 0.49 percent, at 17,029.02, the S&P 500 <.SPX> was gaining 6.02 points, or 0.31 percent, at 1,972.01 and the Nasdaq Composite <.IXIC> was adding 19.11 points, or 0.43 percent, at 4,485.85.

Later in the session at 9:55 a.m. EDT, investors will peruse the Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan's final September reading on consumer sentiment. The current estimate stands at 84.7 versus a preliminary reading of 84.6.

Janus Capital shares were surging 35.3 percent to $15.03 after the company said PIMCO founder Bill Gross would join the company.

Nike shares were trading up 9.8 percent to $87.59 as the biggest boost to the Dow, after the world's largest sportswear maker reported a better-than-expected quarterly profit.

Micron Technology shares were climbing 6.7 percent to $33.82 after the memory chipmaker posted fiscal fourth-quarter results and a revenue outlook that impressed Wall Street.

U.S.-listed shares of Blackberry were trading up 1.8 percent to $9.98 in premarket trading after the company reported a smaller quarterly loss and said it was concentrating on growth and investments.

(Editing by Bernadette Baum and Nick Zieminski)

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