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By Niket Nishant and Sukriti Gupta

Oct 8 (Reuters) - The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq edged higher on Wednesday following a blip in a steady rally, as investors awaited fresh clues on the interest-rate trajectory.

With the U.S. government shutdown delaying the release of key economic reports, traders are likely to lean heavily on commentary from Federal Reserve officials to guide their positioning.

Euphoria around artificial intelligence has helped equities brush off concerns around the shutdown so far, but gold's historic break above $4,000 an ounce underscores growing appetite for a hedge against policy risks and a shaky macroeconomic backdrop.

"Gold is becoming the safe harbor the dollar used to be," said Matthew Tuttle, CEO of Tuttle Capital Management.

At 09:59 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI fell 83.84 points, or 0.18%, to 46,520.96, the S&P 500 .SPX gained 12 points, or 0.18%, to 6,726.49 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC gained 118.50 points, or 0.52%, to 22,906.87.

The S&P 500 tech sector .SPLRCT rose 1% with Nvidia NVDA.O gaining 1.8% and Micron Technology MU.O up 3.6%.

The gains in tech stocks also boosted the Nasdaq.

Energy .SPNY stocks declined 1.2%.

The Dow came under pressure as Goldman Sachs GS.N and JPMorgan JPM.N fell 1.6% and 1.2%, respectively.

On the benchmark index, healthcare .SPXHC stocks added 0.3% while Moderna MRNA.O rose 3%.

BofA Global Research upgraded the U.S. healthcare sector to "overweight" from "underweight".

Remarks from Dallas Fed President Lorie Logan, Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee, Fed Governor Michael Barr, and Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari are on deck. Minutes from the Fed's September meeting are also due at 2 p.m. ET.

The rally in stocks has also drawn support from expectations of a dovish Fed going forward, as a batch of alternative indicators pointed to a softening labor market.

"I think the Fed is absolutely flying blind because of the data blackout. But I don't know how much it really matters for the October meeting," said Chris Hodge, chief economist of the U.S. at Natixis.

Global investment firm Carlyle CG.O estimated on Tuesday that U.S. employers added just 17,000 jobs in September, based on data from its portfolio companies.

That was well below the 54,000 gain economists polled by Reuters had expected in the official nonfarm payrolls report, which was due last week but was delayed by the government shutdown.

Among stocks, Fair Isaac Corp FICO.N fell 2.5% after credit bureau Equifax EFX.N said it plans to offer cheaper mortgage credit scores.

U.S.-listed shares of gold miners rose, with Newmont NEM.N and Gold Fields GFI.N up 1.3% and 2.4%, respectively.

Dell DELL.N rose 7.2% after multiple brokerages raised their price target on the stock.

Freeport-McMoRan FCX.N rose 5.2% after Citigroup upgraded the mining company's rating to "buy" from "neutral".

Joby Aviation JOBY.N declined 10.8% after the electric air taxi maker on Tuesday priced a $514 million share sale at a 10.9% discount to its last closing price.

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 1.34-to-1 ratio on the NYSE and by a 1.49-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.

The S&P 500 posted 15 new 52-week highs and 4 new lows while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 53 new highs and 41 new lows.

(Reporting by Niket Nishant and Sukriti Gupta in Bengaluru; Editing by Devika Syamnath and Anil D'Silva)

((Niket.Nishant@thomsonreuters.com;))