Wall Street stocks climbed early Friday, keeping the market on track for weekly gains ahead of the holiday-shortened Thanksgiving week.

Equities had rallied on Thursday following strong earnings from artificial intelligence star Nvidia. Markets have also been monitoring the worsening Russia-Ukraine conflict and digesting appointment announcements from President-elect Donald Trump.

About 15 minutes into trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.7 percent at 44,160.48.

The broad-based S&P 500 advanced 0.3 percent to 5,968.72, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index edged up 0.1 percent to 18,995.05.

Among individual companies, Gap rocketed up 8.5 percent as it raised some of its full-year projections after reporting higher third-quarter profits. Chief Executive Richard Dickson said the company was making progress on its "brand reinvigoration playbook" after a difficult stretch.

Ross Stores, another retailer, jumped 4.7 percent after reporting a nine percent rise in quarterly profits to $488 million. Results benefited from lower freight costs, although sales were dented by US hurricanes during the quarter.

Alluding to Friday's sessions and next week's holiday trading, CFRA Research's Sam Stovall predicted a "pretty low- volume" period.