US STOCKS-Alphabet, Amazon keep S&P afloat as Middle East tensions persist

* Energy stocks rise as Brent crude tops $70/barrel
* Alphabet jumps on bullish brokerage recommendation
* Indexes: Dow off 0.17%, S&P flat, Nasdaq up 0.17%

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By Sruthi Shankar
Jan 6 (Reuters) - Gains in Amazon and Alphabet helped New
York's S&P 500 stock index recoup early losses on Monday sparked
by rising tensions in the Middle East.
After opening about half a percent lower, the benchmark
index was trading nearly flat by late morning trading, helped by
high-growth names such as Amazon.com Inc AMZN.O , Alphabet Inc
GOOGL.O , Facebook Inc FB.O and Netflix Inc NFLX.O .
Alphabet rose 2.3% after Pivotal Research upgraded the stock
to "buy", while Salesforce.com Inc CRM.N gained 2.9% after RBC
named the business software provider as its "top pick".
After ending 2019 on a strong note, Wall Street's main
indexes came off record highs as Friday's U.S. airstrike in
Baghdad raised the threat of a new conflagration in the Middle
East. "The best way to describe it (Monday's market move) would be
tentative, because the markets are down very modestly given the
geopolitical turmoil," said Randy Frederick, vice president of
trading and derivatives for Charles Schwab in Austin.
"Historically these type of things don't cause long-term
impact on the market, but it depends on how severe it gets and
how long it lasts."
At 11:36 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI
was down 48.26 points, or 0.17%, at 28,586.62, the S&P 500
.SPX was down 0.93 points, or 0.03%, at 3,233.92 and the
Nasdaq Composite .IXIC was up 15.41 points, or 0.17%, at
9,036.18.
Investors sold some of 2019's star performers including
chipmakers. The Philadelphia semiconductor index .SOX , which
surged about 60% last year, was down 1%.
Big lenders, including JPMorgan Chase & Co JPM.N , Bank of
America Corp BAC.N and Morgan Stanley MS.N , were down
between 0.2% and 0.6%, as U.S. Treasury yields fell. US/
Boeing Co BA.N fell 0.7%. A Wall Street Journal report
said the planemaker was considering plans to raise more debt to
bolster its finances after the grounding of its 737 MAX jet.
Among the few bright spots, the energy index .SPNY rose
0.4% as Brent crude futures LCOc1 topped $70 per barrel after
Trump threatened sanctions on Iraq if U.S. troops were forced to
withdraw from the country. O/R
The communication services index .SPLRCL was the top
gainer among the major S&P subsectors, up 0.8%, lifted by
Alphabet.
Declining issues outnumbered advancers for a 1.24-to-1 ratio
on the NYSE and a 1.29-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P index recorded 13 new 52-week highs and one new low,
while the Nasdaq recorded 49 new highs and 22 new lows.