US STOCKS-S&P 500, Dow slip with investor focus on Middle East, but chipmakers climb

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* Micron gains on bullish brokerage update
* Energy shares slide as oil falls
* U.S. services sector activity better-than-expected in Dec
* Indexes: Dow off 0.3%, S&P down 0.1%, Nasdaq up 0.1%

(Updates to late afternoon)
By Caroline Valetkevitch
NEW YORK, Jan 7 (Reuters) - The S&P 500 and Dow declined on
Tuesday as investor uncertainty persisted amid the U.S.-Iran
standoff, while energy shares fell as oil prices gave up recent
gains.
Exxon Mobil Corp XOM.N and Chevron Corp CVX.N declined,
with U.S. oil prices falling after a recent rally on escalating
tensions between Washington and Tehran. The United States killed
a top Iranian military commander last week. Chipmakers gained and helped to keep the Nasdaq in positive
territory. The Philadelphia Semiconductor index .SOX rose,
boosted by Micron Technology Inc MU.O , which jumped 7.5% after
brokerage Cowen & Co upgraded the chipmaker to "outperform."
Equity investors have been jittery since late last week,
when a U.S. drone strike killed Iranian Major General Qassem
Soleimani, taking major indexes off record highs.
"There are a number of headlines on the political front that
the market is trying to get their arms around," said Jack
Janasiewicz, portfolio manager and strategist at Natixis
Investment Managers' Multi-Asset Portfolio Solutions group in
Boston.
"The knee-jerk reaction is to have a little bit of
volatility, a little of repricing some of the risks."
The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI fell 76.09 points,
or 0.27%, to 28,627.29, the S&P 500 .SPX lost 4.43 points, or
0.14%, to 3,241.85 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC added 10.64
points, or 0.12%, to 9,082.11.
On the economic front, data showed new orders for U.S.-made
goods fell in November, pulled down by steep declines in demand
for machinery and transportation equipment, pointing to
sustained weakness in manufacturing. However, a reading on non-manufacturing sector activity for
November came in better than expected. Among gainers, Microchip Technology Inc MCHP.O rose 6.2%
after raising the midpoint of its third-quarter sales forecast.
Apache Corp APA.N soared 25% after it made a major oil
discovery, with France's Total SA TOTF.PA , off the coast of
Suriname. Declining issues outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE by a
1.27-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.17-to-1 ratio favored decliners.
The S&P 500 posted 37 new 52-week highs and one new low; the
Nasdaq Composite recorded 91 new highs and 15 new lows.