US STOCKS-Wall St falls as railroads slide after CSX signals trade impact

* CSX slides after profit miss, weighs on rivals
* Dow Jones Transport falls 3.2%
* Indexes down: Dow 0.21%, S&P 0.29%, Nasdaq 0.10%
* Abbott climbs after full-year profit raise
* Qualcomm up as DoJ calls for pausing antitrust ruling

(Updates to early afternoon)
By Medha Singh and Uday Sampath Kumar
July 17 (Reuters) - U.S. stock indexes retreated for the
second day on Wednesday as weak results from CSX Corp pressured
railroad stocks and highlighted the wide-ranging impact of the
protracted trade war between the United States and China.
Shares of CSX CSX.O tumbled 10.7% and were set for their
biggest one-day drop in nearly 17 years, after the company
posted lower-than-expected quarterly profit and cut its
full-year revenue forecast. Rival Union Pacific Corp UNP.N slipped 5.7%, weighing
heavily on the benchmark S&P 500 while Kansas City Southern
KSU.N fell 4.4%. Both companies will report results this week.
Losses in CSX also pushed the Dow Jones Transport Average
.DJT down 3.15%. The S&P 500 industrials .SPLRCI , with a
1.62% decline, was the top loser among the 11 main sectors.
Since a sharp fall in May, Wall Street's main indexes have
trended higher to hit record highs on hopes that the Federal
Reserve would cut interest rates at its policy meeting at the
end of this month.
The market's recent run-up on optimism around a Fed rate cut
is likely why there is somewhat of a breather now, said Barry
James, chief investment officer of advisory firm James
Investment Research in Alpha, Ohio, adding that trade tensions
remained an overhang.
"There's still a lot of risk in the market, like massive
amounts going into passive rather than active managers and
valuations being elevated, so we could run into potholes as we
did back in December and May," James said.
At 12:29 p.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI
was down 56.40 points, or 0.21%, at 27,279.23, the S&P 500
.SPX was down 8.78 points, or 0.29%, at 2,995.26. The Nasdaq
Composite .IXIC was down 8.45 points, or 0.10%, at 8,214.35.
Abbott Laboratories ABT.N rose 3.7% after the medical
device maker topped quarterly profit estimates and lifted its
full-year adjusted earnings forecast. Bank of America Corp BAC.N rose 1.6% after posting a
profit beat, but the lender lowered its annual net interest
income forecast.
This follows similar warning signs from JPMorgan Chase & Co
JPM.N , Citigroup Inc C.N and Wells Fargo & Co WFC.N , which
reported a dip in margins and stoked fears of interest rate cuts
pressuring profit. Profit for S&P 500 companies is expected to rise 0.4% in the
second quarter from a year ago, according to Refinitiv IBES
data. Of the 43 companies in the S&P 500 that have reported so
far, 83.7% have beaten analysts' estimates.
Qualcomm Inc QCOM.O rose 1% after the U.S. Justice
Department asked a federal appeals court to pause the
enforcement of a sweeping antitrust ruling against the mobile
chip supplier. The Philadelphia Semiconductor index .SOX rose 0.49%, also
helped by strong quarterly profit from Dutch chip equipment
maker ASML Holding NV ASML.AS ASML.O . FAANG member Netflix Inc NFLX.O and blue-chip technology
company International Business Machines Corp IBM.N were
marginally lower ahead of their results due after the bell.
Declining issues outnumbered advancers for a 1.47-to-1 ratio
on the NYSE and a 1.39-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P index recorded 24 new 52-week highs and one new low,
while the Nasdaq recorded 45 new highs and 71 new lows.