US STOCKS-S&P 500 edges lower on risks linked to economy reopening

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* Consumer price index falls 0.8% in April
* Simon Property, Macerich jump after results
* BlackRock drops as top holder dumps stake
* GrubHub soars on report of takeover offer from Uber
* Indexes: Dow flat, S&P off 0.12%, Nasdaq up 0.38%

(Updates to early afternoon)
By Medha Singh
May 12 (Reuters) - The S&P 500 dipped in choppy trading on
Tuesday as the risks of reopening the economy too soon
overshadowed hopes of a jump-start to a battered global economy,
following an easing of virus-led business shutdowns.
Leading U.S. infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci warned
Congress that a premature opening of the nation's economy could
lead to additional outbreaks of the novel coronavirus.
Optimism about an economic recovery and massive stimulus
measures have helped the benchmark index climb about 34% from
the lows of a pandemic-driven selloff in March.
"There's an assumption that the worst is behind us, (but) it
feels a bit premature to be frank," said Keith Buchanan, a
portfolio manager at GLOBALT in Atlanta.
"We do see accelerating infection in some places, but how
that story is written into the far is yet to be seen."
Wall Street's fear gauge .VIX slipped for the fourth day
running, hitting a ten-week low, even as data showed U.S.
consumer prices in April dropped by the most since the Great
Recession. Among the 11 major sectors, financial stocks .SPSY , which
generally lag when the economic outlook dims, weighed the most
on the S&P 500.
Also dragging the sector lower was a 6.3% fall in BlackRock
Inc BLK.N , after its top shareholder PNC Financial Services
Group Inc PNC.N planned to sell its entire 22% stake in the
world's largest asset manager. "The market is little bit too optimistic over what the
economy is going to look like this summer," said Steven Blitz,
chief U.S. economist at TS Lombard.
"The stories about economy reopening has to turn into data
showing that people are coming back and spending."
At 12:52 p.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI
was up 6.36 points, or 0.03%, at 24,228.35, the S&P 500 .SPX
was down 3.51 points, or 0.12%, at 2,926.81. The Nasdaq
Composite .IXIC was up 34.92 points, or 0.38%, at 9,227.26.
Among other stocks, online food delivery company GrubHub Inc
GRUB.N surged 34% after a person familiar with the matter said
Uber Technologies Inc UBER.N was in advanced talks to buy the
company in an all-stock deal. Tesla Inc TSLA.O rose 3.3% as President Donald Trump
urged the electric carmaker be allowed to reopen its vehicle
assembly plant in California. Declining issues outnumbered advancers for a 1.22-to-1 ratio
on the NYSE. Advancing issues outnumbered decliners for a
1.04-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P index recorded eight new 52-week highs and two new
lows, while the Nasdaq recorded 80 new highs and 18 new lows.