US stocks finished the day mainly higher on Friday, with the Dow and S&P both rising after April data for the Fed's favoured inflation measure broadly matched expectations.

The moves came after Commerce Department data showed that the personal consumption expenditures (PCE) price index increased at an annual rate of 2.7 percent in April, largely unchanged from March.

The Dow Jones closed up 1.5 percent at 38,686, while the S&P 500 ended the day 0.8 percent higher at 5,277.

The Nasdaq was the only major New York index that did not rise on Friday, closing almost unchanged at 16,735.

"We're on track for a positive month," Angelo Kourkafas from Edward Jones said before the closing bell, adding that there was often "a bit of rebalancing" at the end of the month.

"Who knows, maybe on Monday that could easily be reversed," he added.

Among individual firms, tech firm Dell Technologies tumbled 17.9 percent despite beating earnings expectations, with some analysts pointing to a lower-than-expected backlog for artificial intelligence servers.

And the apparel company Gap saw its shares surge 28.6 percent after beating earnings expectations. (AFP)