US STOCKS-S&P 500 ekes out gain though profit worries weigh

* 3M falls after RBC downgrade, weighs on industrials
* BASF warns on profit
* Dow down 0.08%, S&P 500 up 0.12%, Nasdaq up 0.54%

(Updates to close)
By Caroline Valetkevitch
NEW YORK, July 9 (Reuters) - The S&P 500 ended slightly
higher on Tuesday as gains in tech-related shares offset worries
about a weakening outlook for earnings.
Gains in Amazon.com AMZN.O , Facebook Inc FB.O and Apple
AAPL.O gave the biggest boost to the S&P 500 and Nasdaq, which
ended the day up 0.5%.
Netflix NFLX.O also rose, ending up 1%, after Cowen and Co
said the video streaming services provider would benefit from
high viewership for the recently released third series of its
original show "Stranger Things". Investors braced for remarks this week from Federal Reserve
Chairman Jerome Powell during his two-day testimony before
Congress, which starts on Wednesday. Also due on Wednesday is
the central bank's June policy meeting minutes.
Wall Street's main indexes have retreated from their record
closing highs after a robust June jobs report on Friday tempered
expectations of an aggressive 50-basis-point interest rate cut
by the Fed.
"There may be some clarity coming out in the next couple of
days based on what Powell says at these hearings," said Bucky
Hellwig, senior vice president at BB&T Wealth Management in
Birmingham, Alabama.
"The 10-year (Treasury) yield has just plummeted," he said.
"With flatter earnings coming into the third quarter, we've seen
the PE multiple expansion courtesy of these lower rates."
Trade tensions and their effect on corporate America will be
front and center when S&P 500 companies kick off the
second-quarter earnings season next week.
RBC Capital Markets downgraded 3M Co MMM.N to "sector
perform," citing macro pressures from China, auto and
electronics sectors. The industrial conglomerate's shares fell
2.1%, while the S&P industrial index .SPLRCI ended down 0.2%.
Analysts' forecasts for S&P 500 companies profits weakened
further Tuesday, with second-quarter earnings now expected to
have fallen 0.2% from a year earlier, according to Refinitiv
IBES data.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI fell 22.65 points,
or 0.08%, to 26,783.49, the S&P 500 .SPX gained 3.68 points,
or 0.12%, to 2,979.63 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC added
43.35 points, or 0.54%, to 8,141.73.
In another sign of the trade war's impact, Germany's BASF
BASFn.DE forecast a 30% fall in its adjusted annual profit,
citing trade friction. The United States and China are set to relaunch trade talks
this week after a two-month hiatus. White House economic adviser
Larry Kudlow said discussions with the European Union on a trade
pact were also progressing. Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by a
1.02-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.10-to-1 ratio favored advancers.
The S&P 500 posted 29 new 52-week highs and no new lows; the
Nasdaq Composite recorded 52 new highs and 49 new lows.
Volume on U.S. exchanges was 5.77 billion shares, compared
to the 6.74 billion average for the full session over the last
20 trading days.