The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite were up in late-morning trading Friday, as investors prepare for an expected rate-cut announcement by the Federal Reserve next week.

In company news, Alphabet (GOOG, GOOGL) and Amazon.com (AMZN) are being investigated by the Federal Trade Commission over whether they misled advertisers that place ads on their website, Bloomberg reported Friday, citing people familiar with the matter. Alphabet Class A shares were down 0.1%, while its Class C shares were flat around midday. Amazon shares were down 0.4%.

IonQ (IONQ) said Friday it received clearance from the UK Investment Security Unit for its proposed acquisition of Oxford Ionics. IonQ, which agreed to acquire Oxford in June for roughly $1.08 billion, said the deal is expected to close "in the near term." IonQ shares were up nearly 16%.

Adobe (ADBE) reported fiscal Q3 adjusted earnings late Thursday of $5.31 per diluted share, up from $4.65 a year earlier and above the FactSet consensus analyst estimate of $5.18. Fiscal Q3 revenue was $5.99 billion, up from $5.41 billion a year ago and above the FactSet consensus estimate of $5.92 billion. For its fiscal Q4, the company expects adjusted EPS of $5.35 to $5.40 on revenue of $6.08 billion to $6.13 billion. Analysts surveyed by FactSet expect $5.34 EPS on $6.08 billion of revenue. Adobe raised its full-year adjusted EPS guidance to $20.80 to $20.85 from $20.50 to $20.70 and its full-year revenue forecast to $23.65 billion to $23.7 billion from $23.5 billion to $23.6 billion. Analysts expect $20.60 EPS on $23.6 billion of revenue. Adobe shares were up 0.1%.

Kenvue (KVUE) interim Chief Executive Kirk Perry held a private meeting with Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in which he sought to dissuade him from citing Tylenol as a potential cause of autism, The Wall Street Journal reported Friday, citing a person familiar with the matter. Kenvue shares were up 1.1%.

Nvidia (NVDA) is backing off from its quasi-competition with Amazon's Amazon Web Services as it reduces its efforts to attract business to its cloud service, DGX Cloud, The Information reported Friday, citing a person with direct knowledge of the situation. Nvidia shares were up 0.3%.

Price: 53.87, Change: +6.82, Percent Change: +14.50