US STOCKS-Strong data, earnings drive Wall Street to new highs

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* U.S. housing starts race to 13-year high in December
* Schlumberger rises after Q4 earnings beat
* Rail road operators CSX, Kansas City down after results
* Indexes up: Dow 0.12%, S&P 0.20%, Nasdaq 0.16%

(Updates to open)
By Sruthi Shankar
Jan 17 (Reuters) - U.S. stock indexes edged higher to hit
fresh record highs on Friday on optimism over corporate
earnings, economic data and indications of resilience in a
Chinese economy battered by a prolonged trade war with the
United States.
Investor sentiment has brightened this week after the
world's top two economies took the first step in calling a truce
to their 18-month tariff dispute by sealing a Phase 1 trade
deal.
Spurring gains in global stocks for a fifth day, data showed
China ended 2019 on a somewhat firmer note, even as economic
growth cooled to its weakest in nearly 30 years in the last
year. U.S. data showed homebuilding surged to a 13-year high in
December, suggesting the housing market recovery was back on
track amid low mortgage rates. "There's a lot of enthusiasm out there and it is a
combination of earnings and strong data that is supporting the
market," said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at Spartan
Capital Securities in New York.
The three main stock indexes closed at record highs on
Thursday, with the S&P 500 surging past the 3,300-mark for the
first time, boosted by a rally in technology stocks and strong
retail sales data.
At 9:57 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI
rose 0.12% to 29,333.87. The S&P 500 .SPX was up 0.20% at
3,323.29 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC gained 0.16% to
9,371.90.
"From a technical viewpoint, the market is a bit overbought
and there is a possibility that the rally is going to exhaust
itself at one point," said Cardillo.
After an upbeat showing from banks earlier this week,
oilfield service provider Schlumberger NV SLB.N reported a
slightly better-than-expected quarterly profit, sending its
shares up 2.1%. Analysts expect profits at S&P 500 companies to have dropped
0.8% in the fourth quarter, but call for 5.8% growth in the
first quarter of 2020, according to Refinitiv IBES data.
Google-parent Alphabet Inc GOOGL.O rose 1%, extending
gains after it became the fourth U.S. company to top a market
value of more than $1 trillion on Thursday.
The Dow Jones Transports index .DJT fell 0.5% after
disappointing earnings updates from J B Hunt Transport Services
Inc JBHT.O , Kansas City Southern KSU.N and CSX Corp CSX.O .
Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 1.37-to-1 ratio
on the NYSE and a 1.26-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P index recorded 104 new 52-week highs and no new
lows, while the Nasdaq recorded 156 new highs and six new lows.