US STOCKS-Wall St edges lower on fresh trade concerns; Qualcomm drags techs

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* Qualcomm plunges after judge rules against co's practices
* Lowe's, Nordstrom fall after disappointing FY forecasts
* Fed's minutes from April meeting due at 2:00 pm ET
* 10 of the 11 major S&P sectors trading lower
* Indexes off: Dow 0.38%, S&P 0.36%, Nasdaq 0.33%

(Updates to open)
By Shreyashi Sanyal and Sruthi Shankar
May 22 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks dipped on Wednesday, as
reports that Washington could impose sanctions on another
Chinese company heightened trade worries, while a slump in
Qualcomm shares pressured the technology sector.
The reports come after Washington's decision to temporarily
ease curbs on Huawei Technologies HWT.UL calmed investors
nerves on Tuesday over a hit to technology sector earnings from
the Trump administration's decision last week to add the Chinese
telecoms equipment maker to a trade blacklist.
However, sentiment soured on reports of likely similar
restrictions on Chinese video surveillance firm Hikvision.
"What investors are looking at is the fact that this could
be another retaliation," said Kim Forrest, chief investment
officer at Bokeh Capital Partners in Pittsburgh. "The
negotiations have been more of a tit for tat than actual
conversation."
The daily exchanges between the United States and China have
kept investors on edge and knocked the benchmark S&P 500 index
.SPX 3.5% off its all-time high hit on May 1.
Qualcomm Inc QCOM.O plunged 10.1%, contributing the most
to a 0.43% drop in the S&P 500 technology sector .SPLRCT . The
Philadelphia Semiconductor index .SOX slipped 1.57%.
A federal judge ruled that the chipmaker illegally
suppressed competition in the market for smartphone chips by
threatening to cut off supplies and extracting excessive
licensing fees. At 9:50 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI was
down 97.68 points, or 0.38%, at 25,779.65. The S&P 500 was down
10.21 points, or 0.36%, at 2,854.15 and the Nasdaq Composite
.IXIC was down 25.62 points, or 0.33%, at 7,760.10.
The communication services index .SPLRCL was the only one
of the 11 major S&P sectors trading higher, lifted by a 2.9%
gain for Netflix Inc NFLX.O .
Markets also waited for minutes from the Federal Reserve's
two-day policy meeting in late April when it held interest rates
steady. The minutes are due at 2 p.m. ET (1800 GMT).
Fed's St. Louis chief James Bullard, a voter in the
rate-setting committee this year, said on Wednesday further
weakness in inflation could prompt the central bank to cut
rates, even if economic growth maintains its momentum.
Retailers wrapped up the first-quarter earnings season on a
downbeat note, with Lowe's Cos Inc LOW.N falling 10% after the
home improvement chain cut its full-year profit forecast.

Lowe's shares were also the biggest drag on the consumer
discretionary sector .SPLRCD , which fell 0.63%.
Nordstrom Inc JWN.N declined 10.6% after the department
store operator reduced its forecast for full-year sales and
profit, a day after disappointing earnings from rivals Kohl's
Corp KSS.N and J.C. Penney Co Inc JCP.N . Retailer Target Corp TGT.N jumped 8.4%, the most among S&P
500 companies, after its quarterly same-store sales and profit
beat Wall Street estimates. With over 460 of S&P 500 companies having posted
first-quarter results, 75.2% have topped analysts' profit
expectations. Analysts now see first-quarter earnings growth of
1.4%, a sharp turnaround from the 2% loss expected on April 1,
according to Refinitiv data.
Declining issues outnumbered advancers for a 2.22-to-1 ratio
on the NYSE and a 1.68-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P index recorded nine new 52-week highs and four new
lows, while the Nasdaq recorded 19 new highs and 37 new lows.