US STOCKS-S&P 500, Dow dip ahead of earnings, inflation data

(For a Reuters live blog on U.S., UK and European stock
markets, click LIVE/ or type LIVE/ in a news window.)
* Tesla rises as Canaccord Genuity upgrades stock
* Alibaba shrugs off $2.75 bln antitrust fine, shares jump
* Big bank earnings to kick off from Wednesday
* Indexes down: Dow 0.3%, S&P 0.12%, Nasdaq 0.39%

(Adds comment, details; updates prices)
By David French
April 12 (Reuters) - The S&P 500 .SPX and Dow Jones
industrial average .DJI dipped below record levels on Monday
as investors paused ahead of the start of the corporate
reporting season and a key inflation report later this week.
Stocks sold off after strong gains in recent days that were
driven by a pullback in the benchmark 10-year bond yield
US10YT=RR from 14-month highs.
"We are seeing a little bit of a reversal from last week
where the tech sector was strong, the financials and energy were
weak. Today we see the opposite, so it is profit taking," said
Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at Spartan Capital
Securities in New York.
Among the 11 major S&P 500 sector indexes, communication
services .SPLRCL and energy .SPNY shares were the steepest
decliners. The financials index .SPSY hit a record high ahead
of big Wall Street names kicking off earnings season on
Wednesday.
Goldman Sachs GS.N , JPMorgan JPM.N and Wells Fargo
WFC.N will be the first to report first-quarter earnings,
giving a new catalyst to either buy or sell off stocks in a
record-high market. "The optimism is improving now that these banks are going to
return to normal, with buybacks and dividends, and because of
the outlook for Treasury yields, they are going to have a better
outlook going forward," said Ed Moya, senior market analyst at
OANDA.
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said on Sunday the U.S.
economy was at an "inflection point" with expectations that
growth will pick up speed in the months ahead, but he warned
that a hasty reopening could lead to a continued increase in
coronavirus cases. U.S. consumer price data for March, due Tuesday, could drive
Treasury yields higher.
S&P 500 earnings are expected to have jumped 25% in the
quarter from a year ago, according to Refinitiv IBES data. That
would be the biggest quarterly gain since 2018, when tax cuts
under former President Donald Trump boosted profit growth.
The S&P 500 briefly broke above its record high set on
Friday, before slipping into negative territory.
At 1:50 p.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI
fell 101.87 points, or 0.3%, to 33,698.73, the S&P 500 .SPX
lost 5.03 points, or 0.12%, to 4,123.77 and the Nasdaq Composite
.IXIC dropped 53.56 points, or 0.39%, to 13,846.62.
Tesla Inc TSLA.O rose 3.3% after Canaccord Genuity
upgraded the electric-car maker's shares to "buy," saying the
company could become "the brand" in energy storage. U.S. shares of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd 9988.HK BABA.N
jumped 8.9% after the ecommerce company said it expected no
material impact from China's antitrust crackdown that pushes it
to overhaul how it deals with merchants. Shares of Nuance Communications Inc NUAN.O surged 16.2%
after Microsoft Corp MSFT.O said it would buy the artificial
intelligence and speech technology company in a $19.7 billion
deal. Declining issues outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE by a
1.26-to-1 ratio. On Nasdaq, a 2.03-to-1 ratio favored decliners.
The S&P 500 posted 69 new 52-week highs and no new lows; the
Nasdaq Composite recorded 80 new highs and 66 new lows.