(For a Reuters live blog on U.S., UK and European stock

markets, click or type LIVE/ in a news window.)

*

Netflix ( NFLX ) falls after dour Q2 forecast

*

Paramount up on likely buyout bid from Sony ( SONY ), Apollo

*

Indexes: Dow up 0.41%, S&P down 0.38%, Nasdaq slides 1.10%

(Updated at 11:43 a.m. ET/1543 GMT)

By Shashwat Chauhan and Shristi Achar A

April 19 (Reuters) -

The Nasdaq and the S&P 500 dipped on Friday, with Netflix ( NFLX )

among the biggest drags on a dour quarterly forecast, while all

three indexes stared at weekly losses amid diminishing hopes

that the Federal Reserve would cut interest rates anytime soon.

Netflix ( NFLX ) slumped 8.3% after the video streaming

pioneer unexpectedly said it would no longer provide subscriber

counts, while its second-quarter revenue forecast fell short of

Wall Street expectations.

Progress on bringing down inflation has "stalled" this

year, Chicago Fed President

Austan Goolsbee

said, becoming the latest U.S. central banker to drop an

earlier focus on the coming need for interest rate cuts.

"We're in an environment that's characterized by strong

growth, strong corporate earnings, and elevated policy rates,"

said Jacob Manoukian, U.S. head of investment strategy at J.P.

Morgan Private Bank.

"Just the adjustment to get to that new state of mind

for investors is a little bit difficult, which is why you're

seeing the turbulence."

Equities were rattled this week as investors readjusted

their expectations over by how much the Fed would cut rates this

year, with both the S&P 500 and the blue-chip Dow poised

for a third weekly decline, while the Nasdaq was set for its

fourth consecutive weekly loss, if current trend holds.

Cushioning the blue-chip Dow, American Express ( AXP ) added

4.6% after the credit card lender's first-quarter profit

surpassed Wall Street estimates.

Chip-related stocks bore the brunt of the selloff, with

AI giant Nvidia ( NVDA ) down 3.1%, while the Philadelphia

Semiconductor Index lost 2.0%, on track for its worst

weekly performance so far this year.

Meanwhile, explosions echoed over an Iranian city on Friday

in what sources described as an Israeli attack, but Tehran

played down the incident and indicated it had no plans for

retaliation - a response that appeared gauged towards averting a

region-wide war.

The CBOE Volatility index, also known as Wall

Street's "fear gauge", was last up 0.56 points at 18.56, after

breaching the psychologically important level of 20 earlier in

the session.

Eight of the 11 S&P 500 sectors traded higher, with

energy stocks amongst top gainers with a 1.1% advance,

while communication services was the worst hit with a

1.7% fall.

At 11:43 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average

was up 156.03 points, or 0.41%, at 37,931.41, the S&P 500

was down 19.23 points, or 0.38%, at 4,991.89, and the Nasdaq

Composite was down 171.95 points, or 1.10%, at

15,429.55.

Shares of Paramount Global ( PARAA ) jumped 8.2% after a

person familiar with the matter told Reuters that Sony

Pictures Entertainment and Apollo Global Management ( APO ) are

discussing making a joint bid for the company.

Fifth Third Bancorp ( FITB ) gained 5.4% after the lender

beat first-quarter profit estimates.

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 2.61-to-1 ratio

on the NYSE and by a 1.17-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.

The S&P index recorded four new 52-week highs and five new

lows, while the Nasdaq recorded ten new highs and 125 new lows.