US STOCKS-Wall Street mixed as Microsoft climbs and Apple dips

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* Microsoft gains on $40 bln share buyback plan
* Healthcare stocks among top boosts to S&P 500
* U.S.-China low-level trade talks resume on Thursday
* Indexes end: Dow -0.19%, S&P 500 flat, Nasdaq +0.07%

(Updates to close)
By Noel Randewich
Sept 19 (Reuters) - Wall Street ended mixed on Thursday,
with a gain in Microsoft offsetting a dip in Apple, a day after
the Federal Reserve cut interest rates as expected and left the
door open for further monetary easing.
Microsoft MSFT.O rose 1.8% after unveiling a $40 billion
stock buyback plan, while Apple AAPL.O declined 0.8% and the
S&P 500 ended virtually unchanged.
The S&P 500 was than less than 1% below its closing record
high hit in July as investors became more optimistic about the
resumption of talks between the United States and China aimed at
laying the groundwork for high-level trade negotiations in early
October. A recent easing in trade tensions has
helped the three main indexes recover from losses from August.
"There has been slightly more constructiveness lately, but
if there is any sort of agreement it will be a very light,
mini-deal, because the U.S. and China are still very far apart
on the main issues," warned Ben Phillips, chief investment
officer at EventShares.
The S&P 500 healthcare index .SPXHC climbed 0.5% after
U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi released a
proposal on drug pricing policy.
While the plan is a "big negative" for drugmakers, the stock
reaction has already been priced in to some degree, said Thomas
Martin, senior portfolio manager at GLOBALT Investments.
Of 11 sector indexes, healthcare is the worst performer so
far in 2019, with a gain of 6%.
Expectations of another rate cut by the Fed, following the
U.S. central bank's 25-basis-point reduction on Wednesday, also
drove sentiment. The Fed, in announcing its second
quarter-percentage-point cut this year, said future reductions
would be "largely data-dependent."
Traders see a nearly 50% chance for another 25 basis point
rate cut in October, according to CME Group's FedWatch tool.
"The market just continues to believe the Fed is going to be
accommodative," said Robert Pavlik, chief investment strategist
and senior portfolio manager at SlateStone Wealth LLC in New
York.
The Fed injected another $75 billion into the U.S. banking
system on Wednesday, restoring a measure of order after the
central bank's benchmark interest rate rose above its targeted
range for the first time since the financial crisis.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI declined 0.19% to
end at 27,094.79 points, while the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC
crept up 0.07% to 8,182.88. The S&P 500 .SPX stood at 3,006.79
points, up less than one point from Wednesday
With the S&P 500 up nearly 20% in 2019, the benchmark index
is trading at about 17 times expected earnings, up from about 15
at the end of last year, according to Refinitiv's Datastream.
"Corporate earnings continue to expand, albeit at a slower
pace, and we expect that to continue into 2020," said Bill
Northey, senior investment director for U.S. Bank Wealth
Management. "We view valuations as high but not extreme at this
point. It's not something that's causing us to wring our hands."
Shares of Target Corp TGT.N rose 0.8% after the retailer
announced a $5 billion share buyback plan. Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by a
1.19-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.26-to-1 ratio favored decliners.
The S&P 500 posted 25 new 52-week highs and one new low; the
Nasdaq Composite recorded 66 new highs and 44 new lows.
Volume on U.S. exchanges was 6.1 billion shares, compared
with a 6.9 billion-share average over the last 20 trading days.