U.S. stocks opened mixed Friday as investors were digesting a batch of economic reports.

At midday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 40.94 points, or 0.18 percent, to 22,244.42. The S&P 500 added 1.86 points, or 0.07 percent, to 2,497.48. The Nasdaq Composite Index gained 23.15 points, or 0.36 percent, to 6,452.24.

Adjusted for seasonal variation, holiday and trading-day differences instead of price changes, advance estimates of U.S. retail and food services sales for August 2017 were 474.8 billion U.S. dollars, a decrease of 0.2 percent from the previous month, and 3.2 percent above August 2016, the Commerce Department said Friday.

Data for July were revised to show sales increasing 0.3 percent instead of a previously reported 0.6 percent surge, according to the department.

The Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) rose 0.4 percent in August on a seasonally adjusted basis, the U.S. Labor Department reported Thursday.

Over the last 12 months, consumer prices rose 1.9 percent. The 12-month change in the index for all items less food and energy remained at 1.7 percent for the fourth month in a row, according to the report.

Wall Street has kept a close eye on inflation data as they might indicate the Federal Reserve's next move.

Market expectations for a Fed rate hike in December stood at 50.9 percent, according to the CME Group's FedWatch tool.

The Fed is scheduled to announce its latest decision on monetary policy next week. While the central bank is not expected to announce a rate hike, it is expected to start unwinding its massive portfolio that has amounted to 4.5 trillion dollars.