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Boeing ( BA ) rises after plea deal in 737 MAX probe

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Paramount Global ( PARAA ) slips after Skydance merger deal

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Powell Congressional testimony on Tuesday and Wednesday

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Indexes: Dow down 0.21%, S&P down 0.05%, Nasdaq up 0.16%

(Updated at 12:16 p.m. ET/1616 GMT)

By Lisa Pauline Mattackal and Ankika Biswas

July 8 (Reuters) -

Chip stocks boosted the Nasdaq on Monday, while the S&P 500

and the Dow edged lower as investors awaited a key inflation

reading, commentary from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell and

the start of corporate earnings season for monetary policy cues.

Nvidia ( NVDA ), Intel ( INTC ), Marvell Technology ( MRVL )

, Advanced Micro Devices ( AMD ) and Qualcomm ( QCOM )

jumped between 0.8% and 4.6%.

The gains lifted the Philadelphia SE Semiconductor Index

1.5%, to a near three-week high, and helped the S&P 500

and the Nasdaq open at fresh intraday record

highs, after closing at fresh record peaks on Friday.

On the economic front, consumer price index data due on

Thursday and producer price index data expected on Friday will

be under the scanner to gauge if price pressures are easing.

"The economic picture has weakened further, but not

enough yet to freak everybody out that it's going to morph into

a hard landing," said Mike Wilson, chief equity strategist at

Morgan Stanley.

"But if it doesn't improve or doesn't stabilize, there's

going to be a crossover point where bad economic data is all of

a sudden bad for the stock market."

Expectations for interest-rate cuts as early as September

were boosted after Friday's nonfarm payrolls report showed U.S.

job growth slowed in June - the latest data to point to weakness

in labor market conditions.

Traders now see a nearly 74% chance of a 25-basis-point cut

in September, up from last week's 60%, according to CME's

FedWatch.

Megacaps including Alphabet, Amazon.com

Meta Platforms ( META ), and Apple ( AAPL ) retreated

after Friday's rally, shedding between 0.2% and 1.5% on the day.

The Dow slipped off a more than one-month high,

dragged by losses in Salesforce ( CRM ) and Microsoft ( MSFT ).

Major banks including Citigroup ( C/PN ), JPMorgan Chase ( JPM )

and Wells Fargo ( WFC ) are slated to kick off the

second-quarter earnings season on Friday. Citigroup ( C/PN ) shares

gained 0.9%, while Wells Fargo ( WFC ) lost 0.9%.

The S&P 500 Information Technology Index was

the top sectoral gainer, while Communication Services

was the biggest laggard. The small-cap Russell 2000

gained 0.6%.

Investors are also looking ahead to earnings to see if a

sharp rally in a handful of megacap stocks such as Nvidia ( NVDA )

justifies their pricey valuations.

Markets will also watch Powell's semi-annual testimony

before U.S. Senate and House committees on July 9 and 10

closely.

At 12:16 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average

was down 82.22 points, or 0.21%, at 39,293.65, the S&P 500

was down 2.57 points, or 0.05%, at 5,564.62, and the

Nasdaq Composite was up 28.98 points, or 0.16%, at

18,381.74.

Paramount Global ( PARAA ) reversed its premarket course and

fell 3% after Sunday's announcement of a merger with Skydance

Media.

Planemaker Boeing gained 0.8% after agreeing to plead

guilty to a criminal fraud conspiracy charge and a fine of

$243.6 million, to resolve a U.S. Justice Department

investigation into two fatal 737 MAX crashes.

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 1.13-to-1

ratio on the NYSE, and by a 1.34-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.

The S&P index recorded 19 new 52-week highs and six new

lows, while the Nasdaq recorded 66 new highs and 81 new lows.

(Reporting by Lisa Mattackal and Ankika Biswas in Bengaluru and

Saeed Azhar in New York; Editing by Anil D'Silva and Pooja

Desai)