US STOCKS-Tech sector pushes the S&P 500 to slight gain

* IBM shares rise on strong forecast, earnings
* Boeing extends its losses after 737 MAX delay
* Tesla zooms past $100 bln market value
* Indexes: Dow off 0.03%, S&P up 0.03%, Nasdaq up 0.14%

(Updates to market close)
By Stephen Culp
NEW YORK, Jan 22 (Reuters) - Technology shares led the S&P
500 marginally higher on Wednesday, as a healthy forecast from
IBM helped mitigate worries over the developing coronavirus
outbreak.
The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq closed barely in the black after
approaching, then backing down from record highs the day after
virus fears prompted a sell-off. The Dow closed nominally lower.
"The market's had a big run, that's made some investors a
bit skittish, cautious," said Tim Ghriskey, chief investment
strategist at Inverness Counsel in New York. "So we're not
seeing a really strong day."
"Earnings season is always volatile and unpredictable,"
Ghriskey added. "Every new earnings report that gets released is
another piece of the puzzle."
Optimism was boosted by International Business Machines
IBM.N , which posted surprise quarterly revenue growth and
forecast higher-than-expected full-year profit. Its shares
advanced 3.4%.
Chipmakers rose following a strong forecast from Dutch
semiconductor equipment maker ASML Holding NV ASML.AS .
The Philadelphia SE Semiconductor index .SOX gained 0.8%.
Global precautions have been put in place to curb a viral
outbreak from China, which has now claimed 17 lives. The World
Health Organization (WHO) has convened to determine whether the
situation was a global health emergency.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI fell 9.63 points, or
0.03%, to 29,186.41, the S&P 500 .SPX gained 0.98 points, or
0.03%, to 3,321.77 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC added 12.96
points, or 0.14%, to 9,383.77.
Of the 11 major sectors in the S&P 500, six ended the
session in positive territory. Tech .SPLRCT was up the most,
while energy .SPNY was the biggest laggard.
Fourth-quarter earnings season is well under way, with 58
companies in the S&P 500 having reported, 67.2% of which have
beaten analyst expectations, according to Refinitiv data.
Analysts now expect fourth-quarter earnings to have
contracted by 0.8% year-on-year.
Streaming pioneer Netflix Inc NFLX.O acknowledged stiffer
competition in the United States, where quarterly growth fell
short of analyst estimates. Its shares closed down 3.6%.
Shares of Boeing Co BA.N extended their fall, dropping
1.4% in the wake of the planemaker's announcement that it does
not expect approval for its 737 MAX aircraft to return to
service until summer. Tesla Inc TSLA.O continued its rally, rising 4.1% and
becoming the first publicly listed U.S. automaker to cross the
$100 billion market valuation mark. On the economic front, sales of existing homes in December
blew past economist estimates to reach a near two-year high.
Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by a
1.10-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.03-to-1 ratio favored decliners.
The S&P 500 posted 109 new 52-week highs and two new lows;
the Nasdaq Composite recorded 164 new highs and 29 new lows.
Volume on U.S. exchanges was 7.20 billion shares, compared
with the 6.80 billion-share average over the last 20 trading
days.