US STOCKS-Wall Street takes a breather after trade talks, eyes on earnings

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* Mnuchin sees extra tariffs in Dec if deal not signed
* China seeking more talks before signing deal
* Nike, 3M biggest boost on the Dow
* Harley-Davison halts production of e-bikes
* Indexes up: Dow 0.13%, S&P 500 0.02%, Nasdaq 0.07%

(Updates to late afternoon, changes dateline, byline)
By Stephen Culp
NEW YORK, Oct 14 (Reuters) - Wall Street struggled for
direction on Monday as inconclusive U.S.-China trade
negotiations dampened sentiment and investors turned toward
third-quarter earnings season, which begins in earnest on
Tuesday.
The S&P 500 was essentially flat, while the Nasdaq and the
Dow were nominally higher following a three-day winning streak
during which the benchmark S&P 500 gained 2.7%.
Hopes dimmed that recent trade negotiations between the
United States and China would bear fruit, as China indicated
further talks were needed and U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven
Mnuchin said the next round of tariffs on Chinese imports are on
track to go into effect on Dec. 15 if a deal has not been
reached by then. And while U.S. President Donald Trump hailed his phase 1 of
the U.S.-China trade deal "by far, the biggest deal ever made,"
no deal was committed to paper and most tariffs on Chinese
imports remain in effect. "Investors are reverting to what truly matters which is
corporate profits, digesting Friday's gains and now looking
towards the earnings season," said Chuck Carlson, chief
executive officer at Horizon Investment Services in Hammond,
Indiana. "It's not surprising that markets are on hold."
Third-quarter reporting season bursts through the starting
gate on Tuesday, with major U.S. banks expected to report a 1.2%
decline in earnings, their first year-on-year drop in three
years, due in part to low interest rates and trade tensions.
Analysts expect S&P 500 earnings to have contracted in the
third quarter by 3.2%, according to Refinitiv data, marking the
first decrease since the earnings recession that ended in 2016.
That's down from the 12.1% gain seen a year ago and the 0.8%
advance forecast last quarter.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI rose 34.96 points,
or 0.13%, to 26,851.55, the S&P 500 .SPX gained 0.73 points,
or 0.02%, to 2,971 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC added 5.48
points, or 0.07%, to 8,062.51.
Of the 11 major sectors in the S&P 500, five were trading in
the red, with utilities .SPLRCU suffering the largest
percentage loss.
Shares of Harley-Davidson Inc HOG.N after halting
production of its electric bikes after discovering a glitch in
final quality checks. The motorcycle maker's stock was up 0.4%.
Fastenal Co FAST.O was down 1.9% after two brokerages
downgraded the stock. The company had logged its best day in
three decades on Friday after reporting strong results.
Nike Inc NKE.N advanced 1.2% after Bank of America Merrill
Lynch upgraded the sportswear maker's stock to "neutral" from
"underperform".
Construction and engineering company AECOM ACM.N gained
6.2% after agreeing to sell its management services unit to
private equity firms for about $2.4 billion.
Declining issues outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE by a
1.28-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.42-to-1 ratio favored decliners.
The S&P 500 posted two new 52-week highs and three new lows;
the Nasdaq Composite recorded 17 new highs and 97 new lows.