* Dow, S&P on track for seventh gain in eight sessions
* U.S. wholesale inventories surge in July
* Forecasts from National Semi, Texas Instruments weigh
* Dow up 0.4 pct; S&P 500 up 0.5 pct; Nasdaq off 0.2 pct (Updates to late afternoon)
By Edward Krudy
NEW YORK, Sept 10 (Reuters) - The Dow and S&P 500 were on track on Friday to close the week with a seventh gain in the last eight sessions, a period that has seen investors worst fears about the economy start to dissipate .
The S&P 500 has rallied nearly six percent since the end of August, a month when stocks skidded as investors worried that the economy was headed for a double-dip recession. The gradual improvement in the data continued on Friday as U.S. wholesale inventories surged by the largest amount in two years in July.
"That's going to support the probability that the third-quarter GDP is at least going to be a positive number," said Bruce Bittles, chief investment strategist at Robert W. Baird & Co in Nashville. "All of a sudden the numbers started to turn just enough to say that we're not going to have a double dip, and that forced a lot of money back into the market."
Highlighting a still weak economy, however, technology stocks came under pressure after National Semiconductor Corp and Texas Instruments Inc issued weak quarterly financial targets. National Semi tumbled 6.5 percent, and TI gave up 1.1 percent.
The Dow Jones industrial average gained 44.04 points, or 0.42 percent, to 10,459.28. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index rose 5.13 points, or 0.46 percent, to 1,109.31. The Nasdaq Composite Index added 5.06 points, or 0.23 percent, to 2,241.26.
The PHLX semiconductor index dropped 1.5 percent. On the Nasdaq, cellphone chip supplier Qualcomm Inc was the biggest drag, falling 1.2 percent to $40.41.
Energy companies gained as crude oil futures jumped 3 percent to $76.46 per barrel after the forced shutdown of the biggest pipeline supplying Canadian oil to refineries in the U.S. Midwest and to a key storage hub in Oklahoma.
Occidental Petroleum Corp gained 1.2 percent to $78.50 and National Oilwell Varco Inc added 3 percent to $41.11. The PHLX oil services sector index gained 2.8 percent.
Indexes traded in a low-volume, tight range in a week shortened by the Labor Day holiday, with some trading desks reporting reduced staff numbers because of the Rosh Hashanah celebrations on Thursday and Friday.
Stocks remained in the upper end of their trading range of recent months, and analysts said the market lacked a catalyst to take shares much higher. Technicians are looking at the 1,130 level on the S&P 500 as a potential breakout threshold.
"Nothing is exciting until 1,130 on the S&P 500. That's the number we're trying to push through," said Linda Duessel, market strategist at Federated Investors in Pittsburgh. "In the meantime we're stuck in a reasonably tight range,"
Some investors say a breakout through 1,130 could take the S&P 500 up to 1,250 by the year-end.
Stocks briefly pared gains after U.S. President Barack Obama reaffirmed opposition to a Republican push to extend Bush-era tax cuts for the rich. Investor reaction was mixed, with some disappointed that the speech did not offer more concrete details.