US STOCKS-Apple, Boeing keep Wall St afloat, weak earnings stoke growth fears

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* Apple boosts S&P 500, Boeing lifts Dow
* Texas Instruments leads declines among chip stocks
* Anthem, Boston Scientific, Thermo Fisher jump on upbeat
profits
* Indexes up: Dow 0.05%, S&P 0.13%, Nasdaq 0.10%

(Updates to early afternoon, adds comment)
By Shreyashi Sanyal and Arjun Panchadar
Oct 23 (Reuters) - Wall Street was supported by gains in
Apple and Boeing shares on Wednesday, though weak earnings from
Caterpillar and Texas Instruments raised concerns of an impact
from the U.S.-China trade war on global growth.
Apple Inc AAPL.O shares rose 1.1% after Morgan Stanley
said the iPhone maker's soon-to-be-launched video streaming
service, Apple TV+, could boost its services revenue.
But tit-for-tat tariffs by Washington and Beijing prompted
profit and revenue warnings from Texas Instruments TXN.O and
Caterpillar Inc CAT.N . Texas Instruments, seen as a proxy for the microchip sector,
dropped 6%, weighing on the Philadelphia Semiconductor index
.SOX , while Caterpillar shares were flat.
"It's pretty clear there were some tough numbers coming out
from bellwether type names like Caterpillar and Boeing, and
certainly in the case of Boeing, people are shrugging it off,"
said Josh Wein, portfolio manager at Hennessy Funds in Chapel
Hill, North Carolina.
Boeing's shares rose 0.7%, lifting the blue-chip Dow Jones
index, after the world's largest planemaker reaffirmed the
timeline for its grounded 737 MAX's return to service, as
investors looked past quarterly profit that more than halved.
The S&P 500 has hovered near its record high this week after
signs of progress in trade talks between the world's top two
economies.
Investors are now waiting for results from big tech firms,
with Microsoft Corp MSFT.O scheduled to report after markets
close.
The earnings season has largely been upbeat, with more than
82% of the 124 S&P 500 companies that have reported so far
surpassing earnings expectations, according to Refinitiv data.
But analysts still project the first earnings contraction since
2016.
At 12:47 p.m. ET the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI
was up 14.19 points, or 0.05%, at 26,802.29 and the S&P 500
.SPX was up 3.96 points, or 0.13%, at 2,999.95.
The Nasdaq Composite .IXIC was up 7.93 points, or 0.10%,
at 8,112.23. A 1.4% gain in Facebook FB.O boosted the tech
heavy index after CEO Mark Zuckerberg sought to reassure U.S.
lawmakers about the company's planned digital currency, Libra.
A handful of healthcare companies with low exposure to China
rose on strong results, helping the S&P 500 healthcare sector
.SPXHC climb 0.7%.
Health insurer Anthem Inc ANTM.N and medical device makers
Boston Scientific Corp BSX.N , Thermo Fisher Scientific TMO.N
all gained between 3% and 6% after reporting
better-than-expected quarterly profits. However, Eli Lilly and Co LLY.N fell 2.4% after the
drugmaker missed third-quarter revenue estimates. Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 1.74-to-1 ratio
on the NYSE and by a 1.30-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P index recorded 14 new 52-week highs and one new low,
while the Nasdaq recorded 40 new highs and 48 new lows.