* China August factory deflation deepens
* Tech stocks weigh most among 11 major sectors
* Ford falls as Moody's downgrades bonds to junk
* Beijing to buy U.S. goods to sweeten trade deal -SCMP
* Indexes off: Dow 0.03%, S&P 0.22%, Nasdaq 0.27%
(Updates to early afternoon)
By Uday Sampath Kumar
Sept 10 (Reuters) - A fall in technology stocks pulled Wall
Street's main indexes lower on Tuesday as weak economic data
from China revived global recession fears, but losses were
tempered by hopes of a trade deal.
China's factory-gate prices shrank 0.8% in August, the
sharpest pace of decline in three years, as businesses slashed
prices to cope with flagging demand amid a bruising trade war
with the United States that has slowed growth in the world's
second largest economy. "A slowdown in China is clearly a sign that global
deceleration of economic activity is real and is something we're
going to have to deal with," said Omar Aguilar, chief investment
officer of equities and multi-asset strategies at Charles Schwab
Investment Management.
Offering some respite, a report from the South China Morning
Post said Beijing is expected to agree to buy more agricultural
products in hopes of a better trade deal with the United States.
Analysts attributed some of the selloff in tech to investors
re-distributing funds into stocks that have underperformed
during the year.
Tech stocks .SPLRCT , the best performer on the S&P 500
with a 29% surge this year, fell 0.84%, while the energy sector
.SPNY , the year's worst performer, jumped 1.59%.
Real estate .SPLRCR fell 1.48%, the most among the 11
major S&P sectors. The sector is the second best performer of
the year, gaining 25%.
"It's less about risk and more about returns - taking
profits and reallocating to the losers," Aguilar said.
Trading so far this week has largely been subdued as
investors are holding out for policy decisions from central
banks on potential monetary easing. The European Central Bank
will hold its policy meeting on Thursday. The U.S. Federal Reserve and the ECB are widely expected to
cut interest rates over the next two weeks, but investors doubt
the extent to which central banks' measures will stem an
economic slowdown.
At 13:05 p.m. ET the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI was
down 7.18 points, or 0.03 percent, at 26,828.33, the S&P 500
.SPX was down 6.69 points, or 0.22 percent, at 2,971.74 and
the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC was down 21.87 points, or 0.27
percent, at 8,065.57.
Among other stocks, Boeing Co BA.N rose 1.92% even as it
reported a 72% fall in plane deliveries in August. Apple Inc AAPL.O kicked off its presentation where it is
expected to announce pricing for its forthcoming streaming TV
service as well as updates to its iPhone lineup. Shares of the
company edged 0.06% higher. Details on its new video streaming service could also move
shares of Netflix Inc NFLX.O and Walt Disney Co DIS.N .
Netflix was down 0.92%.
Ford Motor Co F.N fell 2.88% after ratings agency Moody's
downgraded its bonds to junk status overnight. Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc CMG.N slipped 5.23% following
Wendy's Co's WEN.O announcement that it will expand its
breakfast offerings as well as a lawsuit from New York Mayor
Bill de Blasio's office accusing it of violating the city labor
law. Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 1.44-to-1 ratio
on the NYSE and by a 1.73-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P index recorded 13 new 52-week highs and two new
lows, while the Nasdaq recorded 33 new highs and 35 new lows.