US STOCKS-Oil surge keeps S&P 500, Nasdaq in check before earnings; Salesforce lifts Dow

By Ragini Mathur and Purvi Agarwal

Oct 12 (Reuters) - The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq were little changed on Monday, with technology stocks under pressure as oil prices hit about two-week highs ahead of big bank earnings and inflation data due this week that could influence the Fed's monetary policy path.

Brent crude futures were trading at more than $106 a barrel after deadly strikes on Riyadh's international airport over the weekend. O/R

The rise was contained, however, after President Donald Trump said Ukraine and Russia had agreed to halt attacks on each other's energy facilities following a US diesel-supply deal with Moscow. Details of the agreement were not clear and the plan faces opposition in Washington.

The S&P 500 communication services sector .SPLRCL rose 1.1% on Monday, with Meta META.O adding 3.2% while energy stocks .SPNY added 1.8%.

The gains were countered by a 0.2% decline in heavyweight tech stocks on the benchmark index .SPLRCT.

Salesforce CRM.N rose 3.5% after a BofA Global Research double upgrade to "buy" from "underperform", lifting the Dow to a near three-week high.

At 09:40 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI rose 107.03 points, or 0.21%, to 51,761.98, the S&P 500 .SPX gained 6.14 points, or 0.08%, to 7,817.68, and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC lost 10.23 points, or 0.04%, to 27,355.94.

Corporate results now have the market's attention, with S&P 500 earnings expected to soar 30.6% in the third quarter, according to LSEG IBES data.

Major US banks including Goldman Sachs GS.N, Citigroup C.N and JPMorgan Chase JPM.N will kick off earnings on Tuesday.

"The big themes to watch in earnings season include how companies are deploying and profiting from AI," said Clark Bellin, president and chief investment officer, Bellwether Wealth.

"Whether they are able to maintain or raise pricing power, and how they are navigating the surge in borrowing costs, which is a dynamic that companies did not have to grapple with one year ago."

Treasury yields climbed to 24-year highs earlier this month as elevated energy prices stoked concerns inflation could remain sticky, potentially keeping policymakers hawkish. The US Treasury market is closed for Columbus Day on Monday.

Recent data showing a lower-than-expected rise in inflation and weaker jobs growth has helped knock off bets of imminent hikes, resulting in greater scrutiny for upcoming US consumer and producer inflation data as well as retail sales figures due later in the week.

Markets are pricing in just a 19% chance the US Federal Reserve will raise interest rates this month, according to CME's FedWatch tool.

Cleveland Fed President Beth Hammack's comments will also be parsed later in the day.

In shares, Chipotle Mexican Grill CMG.N dipped 3% after Starbucks SBUX.O said it was not buying the burrito chain.

Quantum computing firm IonQ's IONQ.N shares slipped 4.7% after the company struck an all-stock deal to buy privately held cybersecurity firm Elisity in a transaction valued at up to $1.3 billion.

IREN's IREN.O shares rose 2% after The Information reported Anthropic had entered into a multi-year cloud deal with the data-center firm.

Declining issues outnumbered advancers by a 1.25-to-1 ratio on the NYSE and by a 1.44-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.

The S&P 500 posted 9 new 52-week highs and 4 new lows, while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 23 new highs and 123 new lows.