Peer Kohl's Corp KSS.N rose 8% after raising its forecast. By Ambar Warrick and David French NEW YORK, Nov 18 (Reuters) - The S&P 500 and Nasdaq remained positive into early afternoon trading on a topsy-turvy Thursday on Wall Street, with investors taking cues from upbeat retail and technology earnings despite hawkish inflation comments from a Federal Reserve policymaker. The S&P consumer discretionary sector .SPLRCD led gains among its peers, rising 1% as positive retail earnings from Macy's and Kohl's joined upbeat reports from Walmart Inc WMT.N and Target Corp TGT.N earlier this week.