Apple weighs on S&P, Nasdaq; Dell jumps after report

US-MARKETS-STOCKS:Apple weighs on S&P, Nasdaq; Dell jumps after report

By Caroline Valetkevitch

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The S&P 500 and Nasdaq edged lower on Monday as concerns about demand for Apple products sent shares of the tech heavyweight lower and investors braced for earnings disappointments.

But Dell Inc's <DELL.O> stock jumped 12.8 percent to $12.28, offsetting some of the tech-sector weakness, after Bloomberg TV said the No. 3 personal computer maker is in talks with private equity firms to go private.

Apple <AAPL.O> lost 3.1 percent to $505.33 and was the biggest weight on both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 <.NDX> indexes after reports that the company has cut orders for LCD screens and other parts for the iPhone 5 this quarter due to weak demand. The stock earlier hit a session low of $498.51, the first dip below $500 since February 16.

"It's clear from (Apple's) reducing their supply orders that the sales haven't met their expectations, though certainly the orders they put into place for the iPhone 5 displays were higher than those that were in place for the prior phone," said Peter Jankovskis, co-chief investment officer at OakBrook Investments LLC in Lisle, Illinois.

"Certainly, the rate of growth that they had - the tremendous surge in their revenue, stock price, all things do eventually slow and come down, so it's not a big surprise."

Apple suppliers also lost ground, with Cirrus Logic <CRUS.O> off 8.7 percent to $28.82 and Qualcomm <QCOM.O> down 1.4 percent to $63.98. The S&P tech sector <.GSPT> declined 1 percent as the worst performer of the 10 major S&P sectors.

The Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> was up 24.95 points, or 0.19 percent, at 13,513.38. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.SPX> was down 0.81 points, or 0.06 percent, at 1,471.24. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.IXIC> was down 5.62 points, or 0.18 percent, at 3,120.02.

The Dow fared better than the other two indexes as Hewlett-Packard <HPQ.N> rose 6.3 percent to $17.18. The stock, which was up early in the session after JPMorgan upgraded its rating on the stock and raised its price target to $21 from $15, added to gains after the Dell report.

The pace of earnings season picks up this week with 38 S&P 500 companies set to report, including Goldman Sachs <GS.N>, Bank of America <BAC.N>, Intel <INTC.O> and General Electric <GE.N>.

Overall earnings are expected to grow by just 1.9 percent in this reporting period, according to Thomson Reuters data.

President Barack Obama warned Congress at a news conference on Monday that a refusal to raise the U.S. debt ceiling next month could mean a government shutdown and trigger economic chaos.

Separately, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke will be speaking on monetary policy, recovery from the global financial crisis and long-term challenges facing the American economy at 4 p.m. (2100 GMT).

Appliance and electronics retailer Hhgregg Inc <HGG.N> slumped 7.1 percent to $7.33 after the electronics and appliance retailer cut its same-store sales forecast for the full year.

(Additional reporting by Chuck Mikolajczak; Editing by Kenneth Barry and Nick Zieminski)

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