NEW YORK, Sept. 13 (Xinhua) -- U.S. stocks traded higher on Friday, as Wall Street digested the latest retail sales that came above market expectations.

At midday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 57.70 points, or 0.21 percent, to 27,240.15. The S&P 500 increased 3.92 points, or 0.13 percent, to 3,013.49. The Nasdaq Composite Index rose 1.07 points, or 0.01 percent, to 8,195.54.

More than half of the 30 blue-chip stocks in the Dow traded higher around midday, with shares of widely-watched trade bellwether Boeing up nearly 1.2 percent, among the best performers.

Six of the 11 primary S&P 500 sectors traded higher around midday, with the materials sector up over 1.3 percent, leading the winners.

Shares of Apple fell over 2.1 percent, after Goldman Sachs slashed its price target for Apple's stock to 165 U.S. dollars per share from 187 dollars apiece.

The bank also forecast 26 percent downside to the shares due to the company's accounting method that would have a "material negative impact" on earnings.

On the economic front, U.S. retail and food services sales for August rose 0.4 percent month over month to hit 526.1 billion dollars and was 4.1 percent above the August 2018 level, The U.S. Census Bureau said Friday.

The gains were mainly boosted by higher spending on motor vehicles and parts, as well as building materials and healthcare. Enditem

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