The Vanguard Mid-Cap Growth ETF was rising 0.6% on Friday morning at $266.77, putting the fund on pace to potentially book its first record close since November 2021, according to Dow Jones Market Data.

Founded in 1993, The Motley Fool is a financial services company dedicated to making the world smarter, happier, and richer. The Motley Fool reaches millions of people every month through our premium investing solutions, free guidance and market analysis on Fool.com, top-rated podcasts, and non-profit The Motley Fool Foundation.

"There were some warning signs from Target, but if you look at personal income and retail sales, they have been strong all year," said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at Spartan Capital Securities, in an interview. "That suggests the consumer has buying power."

At the other end of the Dow was Nvidia , which fell 3.2%, shedding $116 billion in market value along the way. The artificial intelligence (AI) chipmaker reported solid earnings e

In overseas markets, Europe's Stoxx 600 pared gains following the PMI data and was last marked 0.3% higher in midday Frankfurt trading. Britain's FTSE 100, meanwhile, rose 0.74% as the pound fell to a six-month low of 1.2521 against the surging U.S. dollar.

Stocks closed higher on Wall Street, giving the market its fifth gain in a row and notching another record high for the Dow Jones Industrial Average.