US STOCKS-Wall Street edges higher ahead of major earnings, central bank meetings

* Halliburton rises after Q2 profit beats estimates
* Boeing falls after Fitch revises ratings outlook
* Tech stocks rose the most among major S&P sectors
* Dow flat, S&P up 0.26%, Nasdaq gains 0.66%

(Updates to early afternoon)
By Amy Caren Daniel
July 22 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks eked out small gains on
Monday as investors were wary of making big bets ahead of key
central bank meetings on interest rates and waited for earnings
from marquee companies including Facebook and Amazon due later
this week.
Shares of Boeing Co BA.N fell 1.13% and pressured the
blue-chip Dow index .DJI after rating agency Fitch revised its
outlook on the planemaker to "negative" from "stable," while the
tech-heavy Nasdaq was lifted by chipmakers. "Markets are trading sideways because there are not a lot of
earnings out today, with the exception of Halliburton, but it is
going to be a very big earnings week," said Tom Martin, senior
portfolio manager at GlobAlt Investments in Atlanta.
"We are anticipating the European Central Bank meeting and
we have to wait next week for the Federal Reserve, and it seems
as though the market has come into accepting a quarter point cut
and that's just the right message."
The European Central Bank meets on Thursday and money
markets are pricing in a more than 50% chance of a 10 basis
point cut in interest rates. Federal Reserve officials are set
to meet a few days later, when they are widely expected to lower
rates by at least 25 basis points.
Hopes of an interest rate cut have helped Wall Street's main
indexes hit record levels this month, recovering from a slump in
May caused by a sudden escalation of U.S.-China trade tensions.
About 30% of S&P 500 companies are set to report
second-quarter results this week, with overall profits now
estimated to rise about 1%, according to Refinitiv IBES data.
Facebook Inc FB.O , Amazon.com Inc AMZN.O and
Google-parent Alphabet Inc GOOGL.O , up between 0.2% and 1.4%,
are set to report results on Wednesday and Thursday.
The technology index .SPLRCT rose 1.23%, the most among
the S&P sectors, while the Philadelphia chip index .SOX rose
1.88%.
Chip stocks gained on news that White House economic adviser
Larry Kudlow will host a meeting with executives of
semiconductor and software companies on Monday to discuss a U.S.
ban on sales to China's Huawei Technologies HWT.UL .
At 12:43 p.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI
was flat at 27,155.32, the S&P 500 .SPX was up 7.63 points, or
0.26%, at 2,984.24. The Nasdaq Composite .IXIC was up 54.06
points, or 0.66%, at 8,200.55.
Second-quarter earnings have been mixed so far, with major
banks raising concerns about profit growth in a low interest
rate environment. Microsoft Corp MSFT.O and International
Business Machines IBM.N , on the other hand, have reported
better-than-expected earnings.
Halliburton Co HAL.N rose 6.9%, the most among S&P 500
companies, after the oilfield services provider's second-quarter
profit beat analysts' estimates. Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 1.14-to-1 ratio
on the NYSE. Declining issues outnumbered advancers for a
1.02-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P index recorded four new 52-week highs and four new
lows, while the Nasdaq recorded 43 new highs and 88 new lows.