US STOCKS-Wall Street dips on risks linked to reopening of economy

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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
* Indexes: Dow up 0.17%, S&P off 0.21%, Nasdaq drops 0.31%

(Updates to open)
By Medha Singh and Sruthi Shankar
May 12 (Reuters) - The S&P 500 slipped 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.
Among the 11 major sectors, financial stocks .SPSY , which
generally lag when the economic outlook darkens, weighed the
most on the S&P 500.
Also dragging the sector lower was a 5.5% 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. 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."
Wuhan reported its first cluster of coronavirus infections
since a lockdown on the city, stoking concerns of a wider
resurgence. Leading U.S. infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci on
Tuesday warned Congress that while the federal government is
working to help manufacture a vaccine against the new
coronavirus, its development "might take some time" to come to
market.
According to a report before the hearing, Fauci warned that
moving too quickly to ease restrictions on business and social
life will put lives at risk from the pandemic and hamper the
economic recovery.
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. The focus for this week is the retail report for April due
on Friday.
At 10:12 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI
was up 42.25 points, or 0.17%, at 24,264.24, the S&P 500 .SPX
was down 6.09 points, or 0.21%, at 2,924.23. The Nasdaq
Composite .IXIC was down 28.27 points, or 0.31%, at 9,164.07.
Among other stocks, Simon Property Group Inc SPG.N jumped
3.6% as the biggest U.S. mall operator said it would have about
half of its more than 200 retail properties in the country open
within the next week. Smaller rival Macerich Co MAC.N climbed 4.9% as it
expected to open a vast majority of its properties by mid-June.
Declining issues outnumbered advancers for a 1.19-to-1 ratio
on the NYSE and a 1.35-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P index recorded seven new 52-week highs and one new
low, while the Nasdaq recorded 55 new highs and 12 new lows.