* Fed's Clarida says being at neutral 'makes sense'
* Wall St little changed as Nvidia tumbles
* Pound, euro rebound amid Brexit uncertainty
* Oil gains on talk of supply cut, but heads for weekly loss (Updates with opening of U.S. markets, changes dateline from London)
By Lewis Krauskopf
NEW YORK, Nov 16 (Reuters) - The U.S. dollar weakened and Treasury yields pulled back on Friday after a top Federal Reserve official said U.S. interest rates are near a neutral rate, while continued uncertainty over Brexit clouded currency and other markets.
Oil climbed for a third session as it clawed back from steep recent losses.
Wall Street's main indexes were little changed in initial trading. Disappointing forecasts by chip companies Nvidia Corp NVDA.O and Applied Materials AMAT.O weighed on sentiment, but that may have been countered by prospects of a less-aggressive path of rate hikes following comments from Richard Clarida, the newly appointed vice chair of the Federal Reserve. said in a CNBC interview that U.S. interest rates are nearing Fed estimates of a neutral rate, and being at neutral "makes sense." are starting to look at the vice chairman's remarks this morning as perhaps a little dovish, and it is bringing up worries about global growth," said Chris Gaffney, president of World Markets at TIAA Bank in St. Louis.
While the Fed is widely expected to raise rates in December, the number of hikes next year is of investor debate.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI rose 72.85 points, or 0.29 percent, to 25,362.12, the S&P 500 .SPX gained 2.61 points, or 0.10 percent, to 2,732.81 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC dropped 24.48 points, or 0.34 percent, to 7,234.56.
Nvidia tumbled 17.0 percent while the Philadelphia semiconductor index fell 1.7 percent. Energy shares .SPNY climbed, supported by higher oil prices.
MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe .MIWD00000PUS gained 0.24 percent.
The pan-European STOXX 600 index .STOXX lost 0.07 percent.
The index was on course for a weekly loss as Brexit chaos, Italy's budget showdown with the European Commission and anxious oil markets sapped risk appetite.
British Prime Minister Theresa May won the backing of the most prominent Brexiteer in her government as she fought to save a draft European Union divorce deal that has stirred up a plot to force her out of her job. tumbling a day earlier, sterling GBP= was last trading at $1.2837, up 0.49 percent, while the euro EUR= was up 0.61 percent to $1.1395.
“We are seeing the euro rebound a bit, we're seeing the pound rebound a bit," Gaffney said. "Both of those items are on the back of perhaps a little more positive news on Brexit, although it's still a long way from getting done.”
The dollar index .DXY , which measures the greenback against a basket of currencies, fell 0.41 percent.
Benchmark 10-year notes US10YT=RR last rose 8/32 in price to yield 3.0884 percent, from 3.118 percent late on Thursday.
Oil rose on expectations that OPEC and its allies would agree to cut output next month but prices remained down on the week on concerns that the global market was oversupplied.
U.S. crude CLcv1 rose 2.13 percent to $57.66 per barrel and Brent LCOcv1 was last at $67.88, up 1.89 percent on the day.
<^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Sterling sings the Brexit blues png
https://tmsnrt.rs/2Pu9I0e Graphic: A sleuth of bear markets
https://tmsnrt.rs/2QCzyvm Graphic: World FX rates in 2018
http://tmsnrt.rs/2egbfVh
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^>