US STOCKS-S&P trades near flat as Citigroup results weigh on bank stocks

* Boeing drops on report MAX groundings could extend to 2020
* Symantec tumbles on report of end to Broadcom deal talks
* Healthcare shares gain on Gilead investment
* Dow flat, S&P flat, Nasdaq up 0.18%

(Updates to late afternoon New York trade, changes byline, adds
NEW YORK to dateline)
By April Joyner
NEW YORK, July 15 (Reuters) - The benchmark S&P 500 index
struggled for direction in choppy trade on Monday as earnings
season began in earnest with a mixed quarterly report from
Citigroup Inc C.N .
The bank reported a better-than-expected profit but also a
decline in interest margins. Citigroup shares erased early
losses in afternoon trading and were last up 0.3%. Shares of S&P 500 banks .SPXBK - including JPMorgan Chase
& Co JPM.N , Goldman Sachs Group Inc GS.N and Wells Fargo &
Co WFC.N , set to report results on Tuesday - fell 1.0% in the
wake of Citigroup's results.
Financial shares .SPSY , which dropped 0.6%, weighed most
heavily on the S&P 500 among its 11 major sectors.
Second-quarter earnings start in earnest this week and
analysts expect S&P 500 companies to report a 0.3% fall in
profit, which would be the first quarterly drop in three years,
according to Refinitiv IBES data.
U.S. stocks will likely be muted until more results come in,
said Oliver Pursche, chief market strategist at Bruderman Asset
Management in New York. The three main indexes ended last week
at record closing highs as dovish comments from Federal Reserve
Chairman Jerome Powell bolstered hopes that the central bank
would deliver its first interest rate cut in a decade later this
month.
"It's definitely a wait-and-see environment," Pursche said.
"If (results) are better than expected, then we can see another
leg up."
The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI rose 10.33 points,
or 0.04%, to 27,342.36, the S&P 500 .SPX lost 0.02 points, or
-0.00%, to 3,013.75 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC added 14.62
points, or 0.18%, to 8,258.77.
Gains in healthcare .SPXHC and technology .SPLRCT shares
offset losses in financial stocks. A 2.8% rise in Gilead
Sciences Inc GILD.O shares helped boost the S&P 500 healthcare
index, as the drugmaker said it would invest $5.1 billion in a
major expansion of its partnership with biotech Galapagos NV
GLPG.AS . S&P and Dow heavyweight Boeing Co BA.N slipped 1.0%
following a Wall Street Journal report https://www.wsj.com/articles/boeing-737-max-grounding-could-stretch-into-2020-11563112801
on Sunday that its 737 MAX jet could stay grounded until early
2020.
Symantec Corp SYMC.O shares tumbled 11.8%, the biggest
percentage drop among S&P 500 companies, after a report that the
cybersecurity company and Broadcom Inc AVGO.O have ceased deal
talks. Broadcom shares rose 1.4%. Shares of paper packaging companies Westrock Co WRK.N ,
Packaging Corp of America PKG.N and International Paper Co
IP.N shed between 1% and 3% after a downgrade from KeyBanc,
which cited risks from a further fall in containerboard and pulp
prices. Declining issues outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE by a
1.12-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.21-to-1 ratio favored decliners.
The S&P 500 posted 63 new 52-week highs and two new lows;
the Nasdaq Composite recorded 72 new highs and 55 new lows.