(Updates with afternoon trading)

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Financials drag on Dow but indexes set for weekly gains

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Walmart ( WMT ) falls after announcing CEO retirement

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Cidara Therapeutics ( CDTX ) soars on Merck's ( MRK ) buyout deal

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S&P 500 +0.20%, Nasdaq +0.37%, Dow -0.41%

By Noel Randewich and Twesha Dikshit

Nov 14 (Reuters) - The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq rose in

choppy trading on Friday after a brief technology selloff, while

investors looked ahead to Nvidia's ( NVDA ) quarterly results next week

and worried that the Federal Reserve may hold off on cutting

U.S. interest rates in December.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average recovered some

losses but remained lower after all three major Wall Street

indexes fell more than 1% earlier in the session.

Investors in recent days have fretted about the pace of rate

cuts and pricey valuations of heavyweight artificial

intelligence stocks that have fueled much of the U.S. stock

market's gains in recent years.

Nvidia ( NVDA ), Palantir ( PLTR ), Microsoft ( MSFT ) and

Tesla were last up more than 1% each.

Expectations the Fed will cut rates at its December policy

meeting have faded in recent days amid signs of persistent

inflation, caused in part by U.S. President Donald Trump's

global tariffs. The probability of a 25-basis-point rate cut in

December has fallen to under 50% from 67% last week, according

to CME Group's FedWatch tool.

Kansas City Fed President Jeffrey Schmid said on Friday his

concerns about "too hot" inflation go well beyond the narrow

effects of tariffs, signaling that he could dissent again at the

Fed's December meeting should policymakers opt to cut short-term

borrowing costs. He was one of two dissenters in the Fed's

October decision to lower the policy rate by a quarter of a

percentage point.

AI chipmaker Nvidia ( NVDA ) will be at the center of Wall Street's

attention when it reports quarterly results on Wednesday, with

investors eager for fresh evidence that a race to dominate the

emerging technology is not losing steam.

"We've got a huge event next week with Nvidia ( NVDA )," said Mike

Dickson, head of research and quantitative strategies at Horizon

Investments in Charlotte, North Carolina. "If Nvidia ( NVDA )

disappoints, they will be punished. But I also think that - kind

of like you're seeing today - you'll see dip buyers come back in

pretty quickly and stabilize things."

UnitedHealth Group ( UNH ) declined 2.8% and Visa lost

1.8%, both weighing on the Dow.

The S&P 500 index was up 0.20% at 6,750.71 points.

The Nasdaq gained 0.37% to 22,955.93 points, while the

Dow was down 0.41% at 47,260.74 points.

Six of the 11 S&P 500 sector indexes declined, led lower by

materials, down 0.92%, followed by a 0.54% loss in

financials.

Concerns about the labor market's health and the inflation

outlook have weighed on investors, who expect some permanent

gaps in official economic data even after the record-long U.S.

government shutdown ended on Thursday.

In global trade, the Swiss government said U.S. tariffs on Swiss

goods will be reduced to 15% from 39%.

Walmart ( WMT ) fell 0.6% after the largest U.S. retailer

announced CEO Doug McMillon would retire next year.

Warner Bros Discovery ( WBD ) gained 3.6% after the

entertainment company said it had amended CEO David Zaslav's

employment agreement amid a strategic review of its business.

Cidara Therapeutics ( CDTX ) shares more than doubled after

Merck ( MRK ) said it will acquire the company in a nearly $9.2

billion deal.

Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones within the S&P 500

by a 1.3-to-one ratio.

The S&P 500 posted 12 new highs and 10 new lows; the Nasdaq

recorded 44 new highs and 282 new lows.