US STOCKS-Wall Street largely flat as tariff fatigue persists; data, earnings eyed

By Pranav Kashyap and Nikhil Sharma

July 14 (Reuters) - Wall Street traded in choppy waters on Monday as investors shrugged off another round of tariff threats, turning their focus instead to a busy week of economic data and the kickoff of the second-quarter earnings season.

President Donald 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.

Investors barely blinked, having grown numb to Trump's barrage of tariff threats and his frequent last-minute U-turns.

Instead, all eyes shifted to the kickoff of second-quarter earnings, with Wall Street's banking heavyweights set to report on Tuesday.

Investors were also bracing for Tuesday's consumer price data, which is expected to reveal an uptick in inflation in June, as sellers start passing on the cost of sweeping tariffs.

Meanwhile, Wednesday's producer and import price reports will offer fresh insight into how supply chain pressures are shaping up.

At 11:34 a.m ET, the S&P 500 .SPX and the Dow .DJI were largely flat, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq .IXIC ticked up 0.16%, boosted by gains in Meta META.O and Netflix NFLX.O that rose over 1% each.

"It is a pause ahead of really big news, which is CPI and earnings. Nobody wants to get offside ahead of the big news," said Jay Hatfield at Infrastructure Capital Advisors.

"They just hold their positions and wait."

Five of the 11 S&P sectors were in the positive domain, while the energy index .SPNY was the biggest decliner, down 1.3%.

Chip stocks came under pressure, with Micron Technology MU.O down 4.4% and Intel INTC.O falling 1.1%.

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

Meanwhile, 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.

Investors are also keeping a close watch on tensions between the White House and the U.S. central bank, after economic adviser Kevin Hassett said over the weekend that Trump might have cause to fire Fed Chair Jerome Powell, citing cost overruns from the central bank's headquarters renovation.

While traders have almost fully ruled out a July rate cut, the probability for a September move stands at around 60%, according to CME FedWatch.

Crypto stocks ticked up after bitcoin BTC= topped $120,000 for the first time. Coinbase global COIN.O rose 2%, while Strategy MSTR.O gained 2%.

Waters Corp WAT.N dropped 11.2% 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 1.08-to-1 ratio on the NYSE, while advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 1.16-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.

The S&P 500 posted 18 new 52-week highs and six new lows, while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 58 new highs and 41 new lows.