*

Dollar Tree ( DLTR ) to close nearly 1,000 stores, shares drop

*

Intel ( INTC ) down on report Pentagon scraps plan of $2.5 bln chip

grant

*

Indexes: Dow up 0.2%, S&P 500 off 0.03%, Nasdaq down 0.3%

(Updates to 1430 ET, adds NEW YORK dateline)

By Caroline Valetkevitch

NEW YORK, March 13 (Reuters) -

The S&P 500 was little changed on Wednesday afternoon, with

shares of Nvidia ( NVDA ) and other chipmakers easing, while investors

braced for more inflation data on Thursday.

An index of semiconductors was down 2.2%, while

Nvidia ( NVDA ) fell 1.7%, after recent strong gains. The index

is up roughly 17% for the year to date.

Investors are looking ahead to a GTC developer conference

that runs from March 18-21 and any announcements related to

artificial intelligence.

Intel ( INTC ) fell 3.3%. Bloomberg reported that the

Pentagon had pulled out of a plan to spend as much as $2.5

billion on a chip grant to the company.

February U.S. producer price data due on Thursday could

offer further insight into inflation ahead of next week's

Federal Reserve meeting.

"The last reading actually helped to underscore the

hotter inflation trend. So this is going to be important," said

Quincy Krosby, chief global strategist at LPL Financial in

Charlotte, North Carolina.

While the U.S. central bank is widely expected to leave

interest rates unchanged during its meeting, traders see a 65%

chance of the first rate cut coming in June, the CME FedWatch

Tool showed.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 86.34

points, or 0.22%, to 39,091.83. The S&P 500 lost 1.8

points, or 0.03%, at 5,173.47 and the Nasdaq Composite

dropped 42.64 points, or 0.26%, to 16,223.00.

Tuesday's slightly hot consumer price data failed to

dampen hopes of rate cuts in the coming months.

Among other declining shares, Dollar Tree ( DLTR ) slumped

14.3% after the discount store chain said it would close nearly

1,000 stores and posted a net loss in the previous quarter, hurt

by an over-$1 billion goodwill impairment charge.

McDonald's shares fell 3.4% after its chief

financial officer said the fast-food giant's international sales

could fall sequentially in the current quarter, pressured by the

conflict in the Middle East and demand weakness in China.

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners on the NYSE by a

1.96-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.25-to-1 ratio favored advancers.

The S&P 500 posted 57 new 52-week highs and no new lows;

the Nasdaq Composite recorded 85 new highs and 92 new lows.

(Additional reporting by Bansari Mayur Kamdar and Johann M

Cherian in Bengaluru; Editing by Pooja Desai and Richard Chang)