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Indexes mixed: Dow off 0.19%, S&P 500 up 0.07%, Nasdaq

0.60%

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Boeing ( BA ) rises after Qatar Airways signs deal for 160 jets

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American Eagle Outfitters ( AEO ) drops after withdrawing FY

forecast

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AMD gains after announcing $6 billion buyback plan

(Updates prices to late afternoon)

By Sinéad Carew and Shashwat Chauhan

May 14 (Reuters) - The S&P 500 seesawed between gains

and losses on Wednesday as investors waited for the next batch

of economic data after a robust start to the week spurred by

soft inflation data and a U.S.-China tariff truce,

Investors were watching out for more trade developments

during president Donald Trump's tour of the Gulf states as he

secured $600 billion in commitments from Saudi Arabia, while

some U.S. technology companies rallied after the administration

announced artificial-intelligence-related deals in the Middle

East on Tuesday.

Most megacap and growth stocks ticked up, with Nvidia ( NVDA )

among the top index boosts with a 3.7% jump. Advanced

Micro Devices ( AMD ) gained 4% after the chip designer approved

a new $6 billion share buyback program.

Boeing ( BA ) advanced 0.9% after state carrier Qatar

Airways signed a deal to purchase jets from the U.S. planemaker

during Trump's visit to Doha.

With Wednesday being a relatively quiet day for economic

data, Andrew Graham, managing partner and founder of Jackson

Square Capital, said investors were holding steady ahead of

April's Producer Price Index (PPI) and retail sales readings due

on Thursday morning.

"People are looking for any sort of evidence that the tariff

situation has leaked into the real economy," said Graham, but

with 90-day pauses to tariff policies being announced on April 9

and again on Monday this week, he said he is less concerned.

"You're at a good news is good, but bad news gets a pass

phase," he said.

At 02:19 p.m. the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell

81.80 points, or 0.19%, to 42,058.63, the S&P 500 gained

4.22 points, or 0.07%, to 5,890.77, and the Nasdaq Composite

gained 113.66 points, or 0.60%, to 19,123.74.

While the indexes were little changed, eight of the 11 S&P

sectors traded lower. Healthcare, down 2%, and

utilities, down 0.9%, were the weakest.

The biggest gainers were communications services,

up 1.5%, and technology, which added about 0.7%.

U.S. stocks had gained ground in the first two days of the

week after the United States and China hit pause on their fierce

tariff dispute on Monday, signaling a joint effort to stave off

a global economic downturn.

"The biggest fears that the market's been having are the

impact of 'Liberation Day' and the tariff propositions that

Trump put," said Lara Castleton, U.S. head of portfolio

construction and strategy at Janus Henderson.

"The fact that we were able to back down a lot sooner than

many people expected and come to a potential agreement with

China was a big surprise and a relief for the market."

It also helped that data released on Tuesday showed U.S.

consumer prices rebounded moderately in April.

U.S. Federal Reserve Vice Chair Philip Jefferson said on

Wednesday that while recent inflation data pointed to progress

towards the Fed's 2% inflation goal, the outlook was now

uncertain. Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee said the data

did not necessarily reflect the impact of rising tariffs.

Fed Chair Jerome Powell is slated to speak on Thursday and

his comments will be closely watched for clues on how the

central bank plans to proceed with monetary policy easing.

While the S&P 500 closed with a tiny gain for 2025 on

Tuesday, for the first time since late February, it was

uncertain it would hold the year-to-date advance. The benchmark

index is more than 4% below its February 19 record close.

The U.S. announcement of a 90-day tariff pause on April 9

for countries other than China, solid earnings reports and a

limited U.S.-UK trade agreement last week, helped the benchmark

indexes claw back.

American Eagle Outfitters ( AEO ) was among the few

earnings-related movers, dropping 5.6% to around $12 after the

apparel company withdrew its annual forecasts, citing

tariff-fueled economic uncertainty.

Declining issues outnumbered advancers by a 2.03-to-1 ratio

on the NYSE where there were 110 new highs and 49 new lows.

On the Nasdaq, 1,581 stocks rose and 2,789 fell as declining

issues outnumbered advancers by a 1.76-to-1 ratio. The S&P 500

posted 2 new 52-week highs and 8 new lows, while the Nasdaq

Composite recorded 55 new highs and 91 new lows.