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Walmart ( WMT ) falls after announcing CEO retirement

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Cidara Therapeutics ( CDTX ) soars on Merck's ( MRK ) buyout deal

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Nvidia ( NVDA ) report seen as key to AI rally

(Updates with close of session)

By Noel Randewich

Nov 14 (Reuters) -

Wall Street stocks ended mixed on Friday as investors looked

ahead to Nvidia's ( NVDA ) quarterly results next week and worried that

the Federal Reserve may hold off on cutting U.S. interest rates

in December.

The market partly recovered after a selloff early in the

session that dragged all three major Wall Street indexes down

more than 1%.

Investors in recent days have fretted about the pace of rate

cuts and pricey valuations of heavyweight artificial

intelligence stocks that have fueled much of the U.S. stock

market's gains in recent years.

Nvidia ( NVDA ), Palantir ( PLTR ), Microsoft ( MSFT ) and

Tesla all gained.

Expectations the Fed will cut rates at its December policy

meeting have faded in recent days amid signs of persistent

inflation, caused in part by U.S. President Donald Trump's

global tariffs. The probability of a 25-basis-point rate cut in

December has fallen to under 50% from 67% last week, according

to CME Group's FedWatch tool.

Kansas City Fed President Jeffrey Schmid said on Friday his

concerns about "too hot" inflation go well beyond the narrow

effects of tariffs, signaling that he could dissent again at the

Fed's December meeting should policymakers opt to cut short-term

borrowing costs. He was one of two dissenters in the Fed's

October decision to lower the policy rate by a quarter of a

percentage point.

AI chipmaker Nvidia ( NVDA ) will be at the center of Wall Street's

attention when it reports quarterly results on Wednesday, with

investors eager for fresh evidence that a race to dominate the

emerging technology is not losing steam.

"We've got a huge event next week with Nvidia ( NVDA )," said Mike

Dickson, head of research and quantitative strategies at Horizon

Investments in Charlotte, North Carolina. "If Nvidia ( NVDA )

disappoints, they will be punished. But I also think that - kind

of like you're seeing today - you'll see dip buyers come back in

pretty quickly and stabilize things."

According to preliminary data, the S&P 500 lost 2.70

points, or 0.05%, to end at 6,734.42 points, while the Nasdaq

Composite gained 29.17 points, or 0.13%, to 22,899.53.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 308.29 points, or

0.65%, to 47,148.93.

Concerns about the labor market's health and the inflation

outlook have weighed on investors, who expect some permanent

gaps in official economic data even after the record-long U.S.

government shutdown ended on Thursday.

In global trade, the Swiss government said U.S. tariffs on

Swiss goods will be reduced to 15% from 39%.

Warner Bros Discovery ( WBD ) gained after the entertainment

company said it had amended CEO David Zaslav's employment

agreement amid a strategic review of its business.

Cidara Therapeutics ( CDTX ) shares doubled after Merck ( MRK )

said it will acquire the company in a nearly $9.2

billion deal.