US STOCKS-Apple's surprise sales warning pressures Wall St

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* Apple drops after sales warning
* Walmart forecasts downbeat online sales growth
* Kroger jumps as Berkshire Hathaway reveals $549 mln stake
Indexes down: Dow 0.36%, S&P 0.22%, Nasdaq 0.20%

(Updates to open)
By Medha Singh
Feb 18 (Reuters) - Technology stocks dragged down Wall
Street on Tuesday after a surprise sales warning from bellwether
Apple fanned worries about the impact of the coronavirus
outbreak on global supply chains.
The world's most valuable technology firm AAPL.O said it
was unlikely to meet its March-quarter sales guidance because of
slower iPhone production and weaker demand in China, sending its
shares down 2.5%. The news also sent shares of Apple suppliers, including
Qualcomm Inc QCOM.O , Broadcom Inc AVGO.O , Qorvo Inc QRVO.O
and Skyworks Solutions Inc SWKS.O , lower by 1.9% to 3%.
Chipmakers, which are heavily dependent on China for
revenues, slipped with the Philadelphia SE Semiconductor index
.SOX shedding 1.6%, while the broader S&P technology sector
.SPLRCT lost 0.7%.
Apple's warning highlights issues that will eventually hurt
a lot of companies with exposure to China, said Art Hogan, chief
market strategist at National Securities in New York.
"It has shifted people's focus back to the ultimate economic
damage in the wake of this coronavirus," Hogan said.
While the exact hit to growth from the epidemic in China -
the global manufacturing hub - still remains to be seen, hopes
that the damage would only be temporary have helped Wall
Street's main indexes clinch record highs as early as last week.
At 9:52 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI was
down 106.66 points, or 0.36%, at 29,291.42, while the S&P 500
.SPX was 7.49 points, or 0.22%, lower at 3,372.67.
The Nasdaq Composite .IXIC was down 19.12 points, or
0.20%, at 9,712.05.
Investors also parsed through mixed corporate earnings
reports.
Walmart Inc WMT.N forecast slowing online growth for the
year after reporting weak results for the holiday quarter,
suggesting it was leaking sales to Amazon.com. However, shares
of the world's biggest retailer rose 1%. Conagra Brands Inc CAG.N shed 7.4% after the packaged food
company lowered its full-year profit and sales outlook.
Kroger Co KR.N climbed 6.6% after Warren Buffett's
Berkshire Hathaway Inc BRKa.N unveiled a $549.1 million stake
in the supermarket chain. Asset manager Franklin Resources Inc BEN.N said it would
buy mutual fund company Legg Mason Inc LM.N in an all-cash
deal valued at $4.5 billion, to create an investing giant with
about $1.5 trillion in assets under management. Shares of Franklin jumped 9.4% and Legg Mason surged 23.9%.
Declining issues outnumbered advancers for a 1.20-to-1 ratio
on the NYSE and a 1.09-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P index recorded 53 new 52-week highs and three new
lows, while the Nasdaq recorded 70 new highs and 28 new lows.