U.S. stocks mixed at midday

U.S. stocks narrowly fluctuated in the morning session on Friday, as investors were meditating on generally upbeat economic data and second-quarter earnings reports.

By noon, the Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 72.29 points, or 0.40 percent, to 18,047.96. The S&P 500 edged down 1.82 points, or 0.09 percent, to 2,122.47. The Nasdaq Composite Index added 30. 57 points, or 0.59 percent, to 5,193.75.

The Consumer Price Index (CPI) for all urban consumers increased 0.3 percent in June on a seasonally-adjusted basis, in line with market expectations, the U.S. Labor Department reported on Friday.

The CPI showed a 12-month increase for the first time since December, up 0.1 percent for the 12 months ending June.

The index for all items less food and energy rose 0.2 percent in June following a 0.1-percent increase in May.

"Given the Fed's propensity to see any increase in inflation as evidence of a lasting rise toward 2 percent and any decline as transitory, this report slightly boosts the odds of a September rate increase," commented Chris Low, chief economist at FTN Financial, in a note.

Meanwhile, U.S. privately-owned housing starts in June were at a seasonally-adjusted annual rate of 1,174,000, beating market consensus, the Commerce Department said on Friday.

The figure is 9.8 percent above the revised May estimate of 1, 069,000 and 26.6 percent above the June 2014 rate of 927,000.

In corporate news, Google Inc. soared 14.93 percent around midday Friday after reporting strong second-quarter results.

The online search giant posted a second-quarter net income of 3. 93 billion U.S. dollars, or 6.43 dollars per share, up from 3.35 billion or 4.88 per share a year earlier.

General Electric Company announced second-quarter operating earnings of 2.8 billion dollars, up 19 percent from the same period of 2014. Its shares rose 0.57 percent around midday. Endite