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United Airlines gains on upbeat Q2 profit forecast

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Travelers falls after Q1 profit miss

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Indexes down: Dow 0.37%, S&P 0.41%, Nasdaq 0.59%

(Updated at 11:30 a.m. ET/ 1530 GMT)

By Shashwat Chauhan and Shristi Achar A

April 17 (Reuters) -

Wall Street's main indexes fell in choppy trading on

Wednesday with chip stocks among the top losers, while downbeat

earnings reports from some industry majors, including insurer

Travelers, added to the losses.

All three indexes pared initial gains as chip stocks were

pressured, with the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index

dipping 1.7%. AI giant Nvidia ( NVDA ) lost 1.7%.

Weighing on the Dow,

Travelers

dropped 8.2% after the insurance giant missed Wall

Street expectations for first-quarter profit.

JB Hunt Transport Services shed 8.3% after the

trucking firm missed Wall Street estimates for first-quarter

results.

U.S. Bancorp ( USB ) dropped 5.3% after the lender cut its

forecast for full-year interest income and reported a 22% fall

in first-quarter profit.

Abbott Laboratories ( ABT ) fell 4% as investors signaled

disappointment over its annual forecast.

Warehouse-focused real estate investment trust

Prologis ( PLD )

eased 6% after lowering its full-year forecast for

core funds from operations.

The risk sentiment remained fragile after top U.S. central

bank officials including Fed Chair Jerome Powell refrained from

providing any guidance on when interest rates may be cut. On

Tuesday, they said monetary policy needed to be restrictive for

longer, dashing investors' hopes for meaningful reductions in

borrowing costs this year.

"At this point, the market can handle these (high) rates. It

had a little bit of a hiccup and the scare was also combined

with the geopolitical problems that we've had in the Middle

East," said Joe Saluzzi, partner, co-founder and co-head of

equity trading at Themis Trading.

"You put those two together (and you have) a good recipe

for a sell-off."

Fed Board Governor Michelle Bowman and Cleveland Fed

President Loretta Mester are scheduled to speak later in the

day.

Money market participants see an around 43% chance that

the Fed could begin its easing cycle in July, according to the

CME FedWatch tool.

Government bond yields eased from the multi-month highs

scaled in the previous session, with the 10-year note

last at 4.6181%.

On the bright side, United Airlines gained 12.4%

after it forecast stronger-than-expected numbers in the current

quarter.

Other airline stocks, such as American Airlines ( AAL ),

Delta Air Lines ( DAL ) and Southwest Airlines ( LUV ), added

between 1.5% and 3.2%.

At 11:30 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average

was down 139.48 points, or 0.37%, at 37,659.49, the S&P

500 was down 20.54 points, or 0.41%, at 5,030.87, and the

Nasdaq Composite was down 93.75 points, or 0.59%, at

15,771.51.

Eight of the 11 major S&P 500 sectors were trading

lower, with information technology and real estate

being some of the worst hit.

Among other stocks,

Mobileye advanced 3.3% after Reuters reported the

Israeli automotive tech company was set to ship at least 46

million new assisted-driving chips.

Eli Lilly ( LLY ) gained 0.9% after its weight-loss drug

helped reduce episodes of irregular breathing in patients with

obstructive sleep apnea across two late-stage trials.

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 1.20-to-1 ratio

on the NYSE. Declining issues outnumbered advancers for a

1.21-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.

The S&P index recorded two new 52-week highs and seven new

lows, while the Nasdaq recorded 14 new highs and 139 new lows.