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Nike ( NKE ) dips on bleak revenue outlook

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FedEx ( FDX ) tumbles after results, outlook

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Boeing ( BA ) jumps after fighter jet contract award

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Indexes up: Dow 0.08%, S&P 0.08%, Nasdaq 0.52%

(Adds prices, volume data)

By Chuck Mikolajczak

NEW YORK, March 21 (Reuters) - The S&P and Dow eked out

slight gains on Friday, erasing earlier losses after comments

from U.S. President Donald Trump provided hope that previously

announced tariffs expected to begin in early April may not be as

burdensome as feared.

Trump said there will be flexibility on tariffs and that his

top trade chief plans to speak with his Chinese counterpart next

week. The president also reiterated his plan to use duties as a

way to narrow the U.S. trade deficit with China.

Markets have been under pressure in recent weeks as changing

announcements about the timing and size of tariffs have clouded

the outlook for corporate profits as well as the Federal

Reserve's monetary policy path.

Stocks have shown some signs of bottoming this week,

however, with the S&P climbing more than 1% on Wednesday in the

wake of the Fed's latest policy announcement. The central bank

kept rates unchanged and signaled two cuts were likely this

year.

Even so, Michael Arone, chief investment strategist for the

U.S. SPDR Business at State Street Global Advisors in Boston,

said it was concerning that investors' attempts to rally the

stock market had largely failed.

"The reasons are the continued uncertainty around trade

policy from the Trump administration, continued concerns about a

U.S. economic growth scare and ultimately uncertainty about what

the path of monetary policy looks like," Arone said.

Chicago Federal Reserve President Austan Goolsbee said the

central bank needs more time to "sort through" how Trump's

policies play out in the economy, while New York Fed President

John Williams echoed Goolsbee's comments and said there was no

rush to change monetary policy right now.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 32.03

points, or 0.08%, to 41,985.35, the S&P 500 gained 4.67

points, or 0.08%, to 5,667.56 and the Nasdaq Composite

gained 92.43 points, or 0.52%, to 17,784.05.

The S&P was down as much as 1.06% earlier in the day.

For the week, the S&P 500 gained 0.5%, the Nasdaq rose

0.17%, and the Dow climbed 1.2%. It was the largest weekly gain

for the Dow in two months, while the Nasdaq and S&P 500 managed

to barely snap four-week streaks of declines.

With earnings season set to begin next month, multiple

companies have been reducing their forecasts. FedEx ( FDX )

slumped 6.45% after the package delivery company cut its

full-year profit and revenue forecasts, citing continued

weakness and uncertainty in the U.S. industrial economy.

Peer UPS declined 1.61%. Delivery firms are often

seen as a bellwether for the global economy given their reach

into a wide swath of different industries.

The delivery companies weighed on the Dow Jones Transport

Index, which dropped as much as 2.7% during the session

before closing down only 0.2%.

Nike ( NKE ) slid 5.46% as the worst performer among Dow

Industrial components after the sports apparel maker projected a

sharper decline in fourth-quarter revenue than analysts had

anticipated.

The materials sector, off 1% on the session,

was weighed down by a 5.78% tumble in shares of Nucor Corp ( NUE )

after the company forecast first-quarter profit below

estimates.

Boeing ( BA ) climbed 3.06% after Trump awarded the

planemaker a contract to build the U.S. Air Force's most

sophisticated fighter jet, beating out rival Lockheed Martin ( LMT )

, which slumped 5.79%.

Friday's session also marked the simultaneous expiry of

quarterly derivatives contracts tied to stocks, index options

and futures, also known as "triple witching", which can

exacerbate market volatility.

Declining issues outnumbered advancers by a 1.93-to-1 ratio

on the New York Stock Exchange and by a 1.42-to-1 ratio on

Nasdaq.

The S&P 500 posted nine new 52-week highs and 16 new lows,

while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 38 new highs and 188 new

lows.

Volume on U.S. exchanges was 21.05 billion shares, compared

with the 16.47 billion average for the full session over the

last 20 trading days, and the busiest trading day since January

7.