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Indexes up: Dow 0.06%, S&P 500 0.03%, Nasdaq 0.16%

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Crypto stocks jump as bitcoin hits $120,000 mark

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Waters to merge with Becton's diagnostics arm, shares fall

(Updates with early afternoon prices)

By Pranav Kashyap and Nikhil Sharma

July 14 (Reuters) -

Wall Street traded in choppy waters on Monday as investors

shrugged off another round of tariff threats, turning their

focus instead to a busy week of economic data and the kickoff of

the second-quarter earnings season.

President Donald Trump ramped up trade tensions over the

weekend, vowing to slap a 30% tariff on most imports from the

European Union and Mexico starting August 1 - a move that leaves

the clock ticking for last-minute trade deals.

The EU extended its pause on retaliatory measures until

early August, holding out hope for a negotiated truce. The White

House said talks with the EU, Canada and Mexico are still

underway.

Investors barely blinked, having grown numb to Trump's

barrage of tariff threats and his frequent last-minute U-turns.

Instead, all eyes shifted to the kickoff of

second-quarter earnings, with Wall Street's banking heavyweights

set to report on Tuesday.

Investors were also bracing for Tuesday's consumer price

data, which is expected to reveal an uptick in inflation in

June, as sellers start passing on the cost of sweeping tariffs.

Meanwhile, Wednesday's producer and import price reports

will offer fresh insight into how supply chain pressures are

shaping up.

At 11:34 a.m ET, the S&P 500 and the Dow

were largely flat, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq ticked up

0.16%, boosted by gains in Meta and Netflix ( NFLX )

that rose over 1% each.

"It is a pause ahead of really big news, which is CPI

and earnings. Nobody wants to get offside ahead of the big

news," said Jay Hatfield at Infrastructure Capital Advisors.

"They just hold their positions and wait."

Five of the 11 S&P sectors were in the positive domain,

while the energy index was the biggest decliner, down

1.3%.

Chip stocks came under pressure, with Micron Technology ( MU )

down 4.4% and Intel ( INTC ) falling 1.1%.

In an interview on Fox Business, Cleveland Fed President

Beth Hammack rejected the need to immediately lower interest

rates.

Meanwhile, RBC Capital Markets raised its year-end S&P

500 target to 6,250 - its second upgrade this year - citing

upbeat investor sentiment and optimism about the economic

outlook through 2026.

Investors are also keeping a close watch on

tensions

between the White House and the U.S. central bank, after

economic adviser Kevin Hassett said over the weekend that Trump

might have cause to fire Fed Chair Jerome Powell, citing cost

overruns from the central bank's headquarters renovation.

While traders have almost fully ruled out a July rate

cut, the probability for a September move stands at around 60%,

according to CME FedWatch.

Crypto stocks ticked up after bitcoin topped $120,000

for the first time. Coinbase global rose 2%, while

Strategy gained 2%.

Waters Corp ( WAT ) dropped 11.2% after the lab equipment

maker agreed to merge with rival Becton, Dickinson and Company's ( BDX )

Biosciences & Diagnostic Solutions unit in a $17.5

billion deal.

Declining issues outnumbered advancers by a 1.08-to-1

ratio on the NYSE, while advancing issues outnumbered decliners

by a 1.16-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.

The S&P 500 posted 18 new 52-week highs and six new

lows, while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 58 new highs and 41

new lows.