US STOCKS-Wall St treads water amid fresh tariff threats; data, earnings eyed

By Pranav Kashyap and Nikhil Sharma

July 14 (Reuters) - Wall Street fell marginally on Monday as investors ran into President Donald Trump's latest tariff threats against the EU and Mexico, starting a week loaded with economic data and major second-quarter earnings.

Trump ramped up trade tensions over the weekend, vowing to slap a 30% tariff on most imports from the European Union and Mexico starting August 1 - a move that leaves the clock ticking for last-minute trade deals.

The EU extended its pause on retaliatory measures until early August, holding out hope for a negotiated truce. The White House said talks with the EU, Canada and Mexico are still underway.

Trump's latest salvo follows last week's tariff offensive, which targeted the United States' close allies like Canada, Japan, and South Korea, and a 50% duty on copper.

Yet, investors barely flinched, having grown accustomed to Trump's tariff threats and his track record of last-minute reversals.

"The stock market's muted reaction to the latest volley of tariff headlines suggests investors may be growing numb to them, or are deciding that the tariff bark will likely be worse than the eventual bite," said Chris Larkin, managing director, trading and investing, E*TRADE from Morgan Stanley.

At 9:59 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI fell 27.60 points, or 0.06%, to 44,343.20, the S&P 500 .SPX lost 11.72 points, or 0.19%, to 6,248.16 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC lost 36.06 points, or 0.17%, to 20,549.58.

RBC Capital Markets raised its year-end S&P 500 target to 6,250 - its second upgrade this year - citing upbeat investor sentiment and optimism about the economic outlook through 2026.

Focus was also shifting to the commencement of the second-quarter earnings season, with Wall Street's banking giants reporting on Tuesday.

Attention was also on Tuesday's consumer price data, expected to show an uptick in U.S. inflation in June, as sellers began raising prices to factor in Trump's sweeping tariffs.

Meanwhile, producer and import price reports are due on Wednesday and retail sales figures are due on Thursday.

While traders have almost fully ruled out a July rate cut, the probability for a September move stands at 61%, according to CME FedWatch.

In an interview on Fox Business, Cleveland Fed President Beth Hammack rejected the need to immediately lower interest rates.

Most S&P sectors were in the positive domain, but the information technology index .SPLRCT was a drag, down 0.8%.

Chip stocks came under pressure, with Micron Technology MU.O falling about 5% and Nvidia NVDA.O down 1.2%.

Among other stocks, Tesla TSLA.O rose 1.3% after CEO Elon Musk ruled out a merger between the electric vehicle maker and xAI.

Crypto stocks ticked up after bitcoin BTC= topped $120,000 for the first time. Coinbase global COIN.O rose 2.7%, Bitfarms BITF.O gained 5.1% and Riot platforms RIOT.O was up 5.4%.

Waters Corp WAT.N dropped 9.4% after the lab equipment maker agreed to merge with rival Becton, Dickinson and Company's BDX.N Biosciences & Diagnostic Solutions unit in a $17.5 billion deal.

Declining issues outnumbered advancers by a 1.03-to-1 ratio on the NYSE, while advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 1.13-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.

The S&P 500 posted nine new 52-week highs and four new lows, while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 41 new highs and 28 new lows.