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U.S. retail sales rise less than expected in May

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Lennar ( LEN ) drops as home delivery forecast disappoints

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Citigroup ( C/PN ) hikes S&P 500 year-end target to 5,600 points

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Indexes: Dow up 0.04%, S&P up 0.18%, Nasdaq flat

(As of 2:51 pm EDT)

By Echo Wang

June 18 (Reuters) -

Wall Street's main indexes were barely changed on Tuesday in

subdued pre-holiday trading as investors focused on

softer-than-expected U.S. retail sales data.

"The most important item in the market today is the soft

retail sales," said Jim Awad, senior managing director at

Clearstead Advisors LLC in New York. "Markets are trying to

digest today's numbers."

Retail sales rose 0.1% in May, versus the 0.3% growth

forecast by economists polled by Reuters, while another report

showed surprisingly strong May industrial production and

manufacturing output.

Following the news, markets slightly increased bets on two

Federal Reserve interest rate cuts this year, LSEG's FedWatch

showed, despite U.S. central bankers' most recent projections

for just one easing.

Nvidia ( NVDA ) overtook Microsoft ( MSFT ) to become

the world's most valuable company, with its shares climbing 3.2%

to $135.21.

Other chip stocks also extended their recent rally,

boosting the Philadelphia SE Semiconductor index to a

record high.

Qualcomm ( QCOM ), Arm Holdings and Micron

were up between 2.5% and 8.0%, with Micron hitting a record

high.

The Nasdaq remained flat following six consecutive record

closing highs, with losses in Alphabet, Amazon ( AMZN )

and Meta Platforms ( META ) offsetting chip stock

gains.

Technology was the top S&P 500 sector gainer, up

0.6%, while communication services led declines.

Investors remained focused on comments from Fed officials

throughout the day. New York Fed President John Williams said

rates will come down gradually over time, while Richmond Fed's

Thomas Barkin said he required more months of economic data

before supporting a rate cut.

Some market observers noted nothing surprising emerged.

"That's why the markets stay unchanged today," Awad said.

U.S. markets will be closed on Wednesday for the

Juneteenth holiday.

Hopes for multiple rate cuts this year, excitement for

AI-related companies and robust earnings from other tech firms

have bolstered equities in recent months, with gains

concentrated in a few heavily weighted stocks.

Citigroup ( C/PN ) raised the year-end target for the S&P 500

to 5,600 points from 5,100.

At 02:51 p.m. the Dow Jones Industrial Average

rose 17.37 points, or 0.04%, to 38,795.54. The S&P 500

edged up 9.72 points, or 0.18%, to 5,483.08 and the Nasdaq

Composite gained 0.40 points, or 0.00%, at 17,857.05.

Edtech company Chegg ( CHGG ) jumped 10.9% after announcing

job cuts in a restructuring.

Homebuilder Lennar ( LEN ) fell 4.9% after forecasting

lower-than-expected third-quarter home deliveries.

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 1.86-to-1

ratio on the NYSE, which had 220 new highs and 76 new lows.

The S&P 500 posted 48 new 52-week highs and six new lows

while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 58 new highs and 168 new

lows.