US STOCKS-Wall Street slips as weak economic data offsets earnings strength

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* Retail sales fall in Sept for first time in 7 months
* BofA, United beat earnings expectations
* GM, UAW reach tentative deal
* Netflix gains in after-market trading following results
* Indexes down: Dow 0.08%, S&P 500 0.20%, Nasdaq 0.30%

(Updates to market close)
By Stephen Culp
NEW YORK, Oct 16 (Reuters) - Wall Street lost ground on
Wednesday as weak U.S. economic data and simmering geopolitical
tensions spooked buyers away from the equities market, despite a
string of generally positive third-quarter earnings reports.
Technology shares, led by Microsoft Inc MSFT.O , weighed
heaviest, pulling all three major U.S. stock averages into the
red.
U.S. retail sales contracted in September for the first time
in seven months, according to the Commerce Department, in a sign
that cracks might be spreading from the troubled manufacturing
sector to the broader economy. "This is perhaps the first indication that the consumer side
of the economy is showing signs of stress and perhaps pulling
back," said Tim Ghriskey, chief investment strategist at
Inverness Counsel in New York. "The consumer has been looked at
as the savior of this economy and this data comes out and it's
rather shocking."
U.S.-China trade uncertainties increased after the U.S.
House of Representatives riled Beijing by passing pro-democracy
legislation in support of Hong Kong.
President Donald Trump said he would probably not sign any
trade deal before he meets with Chinese President Xi Jinping at
the upcoming APEC Forum in Chile, but said a partial trade deal
was being formalized. "It surprises us that the market isn't reacting more to the
negative issues," Ghriskey added. "Part of that is the
expectation that the Fed is going to lower rates at the end of
October and that companies may surprise to the upside like they
did in first second quarters."
Analysts currently expect S&P 500 third-quarter earnings to
fall by 3%, which would mark the first year-on-year contraction
since the earnings recession that ended in 2016.
However, of the 43 S&P 500 companies to have posted
third-quarter results so far, 86% have beaten expectations.
Bank of America BAC.N rose 1.5% after posting its
third-quarter profit beat due to growth in advisory fees and
loan book expansion. United Airlines UAL.O advanced 1.9% after the airline beat
quarterly profit estimates and increased its 2019 guidance.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI fell 22.82 points,
or 0.08%, to 27,001.98, the S&P 500 .SPX lost 5.99 points, or
0.20%, to 2,989.69 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC dropped
24.52 points, or 0.3%, to 8,124.18.
Of the 11 major sectors in the S&P 500, six closed in
negative territory, with energy .SPNY and tech .SPLRCT
suffering the largest percentage losses.
In other stocks news, Eli Lilly & Co LLY.N dropped 1.6% in
the wake of a late-stage study that showed its experimental
pancreatic cancer treatment failed to meet the overall survival
goal. Drug distributors McKesson MCK.N , AmerisourceBergen
ABC.N and Cardinal Health CAH.N rose between 2% and 5%
following a report that they were in talks with state and local
governments to settle thousands of opioid lawsuits for $18
billion. General Motors GM.N gained 1.1% after the automaker
reached a tentative labor deal with the United Auto Workers
union. Netflix Inc NFLX.O shares jumped more than 10% in
post-market trading after posting quarterly results.
Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by a
1.08-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.07-to-1 ratio favored advancers.
The S&P 500 posted 17 new 52-week highs and no new lows; the
Nasdaq Composite recorded 35 new highs and 62 new lows.
Volume on U.S. exchanges was 6.06 billion shares, compared
with the 6.79 billion average over the last 20 trading days.