US STOCKS-S&P 500, Dow tick higher on trade optimism; Nasdaq dips on Tesla

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* Trump says trade deal "potentially very close"
* China's Xi says wants to work out an agreement
* Nordstrom jumps on 2019 forecast raise
* Tesla drops after unveiling electric pickup truck
* Indexes: Dow up 0.21%, S&P up 0.05%, Nasdaq off 0.08%

(Updates market action)
By Arjun Panchadar
Nov 22 (Reuters) - The S&P 500 and Dow Jones indexes eked
out gains on Friday following upbeat trade deal comments from
Washington and Beijing, while the Nasdaq was weighed down by a
slump in shares of Tesla after the launch of its electric pickup
truck.
Trump told Fox News that a trade deal was "potentially very
close", adding to optimism following remarks by President Xi
Jinping that Beijing wanted to work out an initial agreement.
Reports earlier in the week had indicated that a truce could be
delayed to 2020. "Deal means actual hard facts and so even if people meet and
get together and talk a little bit more, we don't see anything
substantial happening," said Jeanette Garretty, managing
director & principal at Robertson Stephens Wealth Management in
San Francisco.
A report on Friday said a hedge fund founded by billionaire
Ray Dalio has bet more than $1 billion that stock markets around
the world will fall by March. U.S. stocks have retreated from record highs scaled in
recent weeks on hopes of a resolution to the damaging tariff
war, with the benchmark S&P 500 index on course to snap its
six-week winning streak. The tech-heavy Nasdaq is eyeing its
first weekly drop in eight weeks.
Meanwhile, latest economic data underscored a resilient
domestic economy. U.S. manufacturing output accelerated in
November to its fastest pace in seven months and services
activity picked up more than expected. Six of the 11 major S&P 500 sectors were trading higher, led
by financials .SPSY . Limiting gains on the benchmark index was
the technology sector .SPLRCT , which slipped 0.17%.
Intuit Inc INTU.O dropped 4.60% after the income-tax
filing software maker forecast second-quarter profit below
estimates. At 11:46 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI
was up 58.37 points, or 0.21%, at 27,824.66, while the S&P 500
.SPX was up 1.49 points, or 0.05%, at 3,105.03.
The Nasdaq Composite .IXIC was down 6.60 points, or 0.08%,
at 8,499.61, dragged down by a 6.3% slump in shares of Tesla Inc
TSLA.O as its electric pickup truck design received an
underwhelming response. Among other stocks, Nordstrom Inc JWN.N jumped 10.4% after
the retailer raised its 2019 forecast and reported third-quarter
profit above expectations. A largely better-than-expected earnings season has also
contributed to the recent market rally.
Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 1.39-to-1 ratio
on the NYSE and by a 1.16-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P index recorded 14 new 52-week highs and two new
lows, while the Nasdaq recorded 38 new highs and 50 new lows.