*

Apple ( AAPL ) falls after analyst flags weak demand for new

iPhones

*

Intel ( INTC ) rises after report chipmaker qualifies for federal

grants

*

Boeing ( BA ) dips after it freezes hiring, weighs temporary

furloughs

*

Indexes: Dow up 0.55%, S&P up 0.13%, Nasdaq off 0.52%

(Updated at 4:07 p.m. ET/2007 GMT)

By Chuck Mikolajczak

NEW YORK, Sept 16 (Reuters) - The S&P 500 eked out a

slight gain in a subdued session while the Nasdaq fell on

Monday, weighed down by a drop in technology stocks as investors

assessed the likelihood of an upsized rate cut from the U.S.

Federal Reserve this week.

The S&P technology index, the best performer of

the 11 major S&P sectors this year, lost 0.95% as the session's

biggest decliner.

Apple ( AAPL ) dropped 2.78% as the biggest drag to both the

benchmark S&P index and Nasdaq Composite, after an analyst at TF

International Securities said demand for its latest iPhone 16

models was lower than expected.

The demand concerns also weighed on chipmakers, with Nvidia ( NVDA )

, the best performer on the S&P 500 this year, down

1.95%, Broadcom ( AVGO ) off 2.19% and Micron Tech ( MU ) 4.43%

lower to push the Philadelphia SE Semiconductor index

down by 1.41%.

"If people want to raise a lot of money quickly, how do they

do it? They go sell the names that they can sell really quickly

without necessarily destroying it. So you can sell Apple ( AAPL ), you

can sell Nvidia ( NVDA ), you can sell Amazon, you can sell Microsoft

very quickly and raise a lot of cash," said Ken Polcari, chief

market strategist at SlateStone Wealth in Jupiter, Florida.

"They want to do it in front of the Fed in case they're

getting nervous or they want to raise cash to just have cash

available to put to work."

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 228.30 points,

or 0.55%, to 41,622.08, the S&P 500 gained 7.07 points,

or 0.13%, to 5,633.09 and the Nasdaq Composite lost

91.85 points, or 0.52%, to 17,592.13.

Of the 11 S&P 500 sectors, only tech and consumer

discretionary stocks were lower on the day while

financials, up 1.22%, and energy, up 1.2%, were

the best performers.

Markets have rallied since the start of this year on

expectations the Fed would begin loosening its monetary policy,

while data has suggested the economy could avoid entering a

recession.

The Dow closed at a record high on Monday and the S&P 500 is

less than 1% from its closing record set in July.

Market expectations on the size of the rate cut the Federal

Reserve will announce on Wednesday have been volatile in recent

days and are currently pricing in a 59% chance for a

50-basis-point cut, according to CME's FedWatch Tool.

Intel Corp ( INTC ) jumped 6.36% after a report showed it

qualified for as much as $3.5 billion in federal grants to make

semiconductors for the U.S. Department of Defense.

Boeing ( BA ) declined 0.78% after the planemaker said it

was freezing hiring and weighing temporary furloughs in the

coming weeks as its workers' strike stretched to its fourth day.

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 2.74-to-1 ratio

on the New York Stock Exchange. On the Nasdaq, advancers

outnumbered decliners by a 1.17-to-1 ratio.

The S&P 500 posted 88 new 52-week highs and one new low

while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 143 new highs and 83 new

lows.

Volume on U.S. exchanges was 9.74 billion shares,

compared with the 10.75-billion average for the full session

over the last 20 trading days.