(Adds preliminary closing details)

By Sinéad Carew and Pranav Kashyap

July 8 (Reuters) - The S&P 500 ended Tuesday's choppy

session slightly lower as investors yearned for clarity on U.S.

trade policy after President Donald Trump's latest tariff

threats dampened hopes around talks with some trade partners.

Wall Street equities had sold off sharply on Monday after Trump

warned of sweeping new tariffs on goods from key trading

partners such as Japan and South Korea and a range of smaller

countries starting in August.

Tuesday's moves in U.S. indexes were less pronounced than in the

previous session but the benchmark S&P 500 and the tech-heavy

Nasdaq spent the session flitting between red and green as

investors looked for direction from tariff headlines.

Trump appeared to broaden his global trade war with the

announcement on Tuesday that he would put a 50% tariff on

imported copper while he said that long-threatened levies on

semiconductors and pharmaceuticals were coming soon.

The U.S. president said trade talks have been going well with

the European Union and China but added that he was only days

away from sending a tariff letter to the EU.

"It's almost like markets are waiting to exhale," while

investors wait for more tariff news, said Carol Schleif, chief

market strategist at BMO Private Wealth in Minneapolis,

Minnesota.

"The fact that markets are holding in pretty tight, still

just an eyelash away from all-time highs, shows investors are

willing to give headlines the benefit of the doubt," she said.

And while investors wait for the second-quarter earnings

season to begin in mid-July, they are likely relieved by the

passage into law last week of the U.S. government's spending

plan, including some business-friendly tax policies, according

to Schleif.

According to preliminary data, the S&P 500 lost 4.50

points, or 0.07%, to end at 6,225.48 points, while the Nasdaq

Composite gained 3.16 points, or 0.02%, to 20,415.67.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 166.80 points, or

0.38%, to 44,239.56.

While the bigger indexes were little changed, the

Russell 2000 small-cap index outperformed.

The market's cautious mood contrasted with the wild

volatility that was unleashed after Trump's April 2 "Liberation

Day" tariff announcements, which pushed the Nasdaq down sharply

to confirm a bear market and sent the Dow and the S&P 500 into a

correction.

Since then, Wall Street has rebounded to regain lost ground,

with the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 powering to fresh record highs

last week, as a solid labor market report helped ease fears of a

recession.

BofA Global Research and Goldman Sachs raised its year-end

targets for the S&P 500 index, broadly driven by reduced

policy uncertainty, resilient corporate earnings and potential

interest rate cuts.

Minutes of the Fed's June rate-setting meeting are scheduled

for release on Wednesday, potentially providing more clarity on

when the central bank might resume its policy-easing cycle.

In individual stocks, Moderna ( MRNA ) had rallied during the

session after leading medical organizations filed a lawsuit

against U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and

Department of Health and Human Services, arguing that current

COVID-19 vaccine policies pose a threat to public health.

Shares of solar stocks fell after Trump on Monday directed

federal agencies to strengthen provisions in the One Big

Beautiful Bill Act that repeal or modify tax credits for solar

and wind energy projects.

SunRun ( RUN ), Enphase Energy ( ENPH ) and SolarEdge

Technologies ( SEDG ) all lost ground.