* Goldman Sachs falls after results
* Financials snap three-day rally
* U.S. makes subsidies concessions in U.S.-China trade talks
By Stephen Culp
NEW YORK, April 15 (Reuters) - Wall Street lost ground onMonday, dragged down by financials as underwhelming bankearnings curbed investor enthusiasm.
But while all three major U.S. stock indexes edged lower,the S&P 500 remained within a percent of its record high.
Following a January-March rally that marked the U.S. stockmarket's best quarterly performance in nearly a decade, stockshad been in a holding pattern in April ahead of first quarterreporting season.
Goldman SachsGS.N dipped 3.8% after the investment bank'sfirst quarter revenue came in below analyst expectations.
Citigroup IncC.N posted higher-than-expected earnings ascost-cutting offset falling revenues. Its shares ended thesession nominally lower, dropping 0.1%.
"We're coming off of a strong week last week," said JosephSroka, chief investment officer at NovaPoint in Atlanta. "So anybad news or earnings reports this week, such as we saw withGoldman and Citigroup, is going to take away some of thatmomentum."
With first quarter reporting season shifting into high gear,analysts now see S&P 500 companies posting a 2.1% year-on-yeardecline in profits. While an improvement over recent estimates,it would still mark the first annual decline in earnings since2016.
"We'll get a clearer sense as we move through the week,"Sroka added. "As we move into other sectors we'll get a clearerpicture of corporate earnings and the economy."
Bank of America CoBAC.N , Morgan StanleyMS.N , NetflixInc NFLX.O , Johnson & JohnsonJNJ.N , Textron IncTXT.N ,Honeywell International IncHON.N , Schlumberger NVSLB.N and American Express CoAXP.N are among the closely-watchedearnings expected this holiday-shortened week.
Aside from earnings, "we still have to be watchful forglobal geopolitical events such as the U.S.-China tradediscussion," warned Sam Stovall, chief investment strategist ofCFRA Research in New York.
Sources said U.S. negotiators have softened their demandsthat China curb industrial subsidies as a condition for a tradedeal, marking a retreat from a core U.S. objective.
"It's a net positive," Stovall said. "The president wants toget some sort of deal signed so he can move on."
The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI fell 27.53 points,or 0.1%, to 26,384.77, the S&P 500 .SPX lost 1.83 points, or0.06%, to 2,905.58 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC dropped 8.15points, or 0.1%, to 7,976.01.
Of the 11 major sectors in the S&P 500, six ended thesession in the red.
Financials .SPNY were the biggest percentage losers,closing down 0.6% and snapping their three-day winning streak.
Waste Management IncWM.N rose 2.4% following itsannouncement that it would buy smaller rival Advanced DisposalServices IncADSW.N for about $3 billion.
Boeing CoBA.N slid 1.1% after U.S. President Donald Trumptweeted that the planemaker should fix and "rebrand" its 737 MAXjet.
Lyft IncLYFT.O extended its slide, falling 6.3%. Theride-hailing platform, which had its market debut in March, isnow trading about 22% below its $72 offer price.
Declining issues outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE by a1.21-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.57-to-1 ratio favored decliners.
The S&P 500 posted 56 new 52-week highs and 1 new low; theNasdaq Composite recorded 79 new highs and 46 new lows.
Volume on U.S. exchanges was 5.75 billion shares, comparedto the 6.91 billion average over the last 20 trading days. (Reporting by Stephen Culp, Editing by Rosalba O'Brien) ((stephen.culp@thomsonreuters.com; 646-223-6076;))
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
