* Goldman Sachs, Citigroup fall after results
* Financials post first drop in four sessions
* Bank of America falls ahead of results on Tuesday
By Amy Caren Daniel
April 15 (Reuters) - Wall Street's main indexes fell onMonday, following a rally in the previous session that put theS&P 500 within striking distance of its record high, asunderwhelming results from Goldman Sachs and Citigroup pressuredfinancial stocks.
The sector .SPSY fell for the first time in four sessions,down 0.75%, dragged lower by a 3.2% tumble in Goldman SachsGroup IncGS.N and a 0.7% dip in Citigroup IncC.N after thebanks missed revenue estimates.
The S&P banking index .SPXBK fell 1.12%, also weighed downby a 1.6% drop in JPMorgan ChaseJPM.N . Bank of AmericaBAC.N dipped 1.4% ahead of results on Tuesday.
"With less-than-stellar Goldman results, despite thebottom-line beat, it's not necessarily surprising to seefinancials pulling back a little bit," said Michael James,managing director of equity trading at Wedbush Securities in LosAngeles.
"Earnings and guidance need to be better than estimates forthe market strength to continue given the levels we are at now."
Monday's reports come in contrast to JPMorgan's upbeatearnings on Friday that eased worries of first-quarter earningsseason slamming the brakes on Wall Street's big rally back fromlast year's slump.
The benchmark S&P 500 index .SPX is just about 1% awayfrom its September record closing high.
On trade discussions, Reuters reported that U.S. negotiatorshave tempered demands that China curb industrial subsidies as acondition for a trade deal, while Treasury Secretary StevenMnuchin said he hoped the talks were approaching a final lap.
At 12:09 p.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI was down 86.50 points, or 0.33%, at 26,325.80. The S&P 500 .SPX was down 9.31 points, or 0.32%, at 2,898.10. The NasdaqComposite .IXIC was down 37.15 points, or 0.47%, at 7,947.02.
Of the 33 S&P 500 companies that have reported results sofar, 81.8% have surpassed first-quarter earnings estimate, abovethe average of past four quarters, according to Refinitiv data.
Analysts expect S&P 500 companies to show a 2.1%year-on-year decline in earnings, their first annual contractionsince 2016.
In a bright spot, Waste Management IncWM.N rose 2.7%after the company said it would buy smaller rival AdvancedDisposal Services IncADSW.N for about $3 billion. AdvancedDisposal jumped 18.9%.
Boeing CoBA.N declined 1% as Brand consultancy firm BrandFinance said negative publicity over the grounding of theplanemaker's 737 MAX jet is set to wipe $12 billion off thecompany's brand value.
Declining issues outnumbered advancers for a 1.37-to-1 ratioon the NYSE and for a 1.95-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P index recorded 52 new 52-week highs and one new low,while the Nasdaq recorded 64 new highs and 29 new lows. (Reporting by Amy Caren Daniel and Sruthi Shankar in Bengaluru;Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila) ((Amy.CarenDaniel@thomsonreuters.com ; within U.S.+1-646-223-8780; outside U.S. +91 80 6749 9250 ; ReutersMessaging: Amy.CarenDaniel.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net;))
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
