By Shreyashi Sanyal
(Reuters) - The benchmark S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average were flat on Wednesday, as gains in energy companies helped offset a slide in technology stocks, which weighed on the Nasdaq.
Shares of Apple, Twitter, Alphabet and Amazon.com fell between 0.8 and 2.8 percent after executives at these companies, among others, were asked to testify about consumer data privacy before a U.S. Senate panel on Sept. 26.
Apple weighed the most on the three major indexes. The stock was trading higher premarket ahead of an event at 1 p.m. ET (1700 GMT) where the company is expected to launch three new iPhone models.
The S&P technology sector slid 0.88 percent, the most among the 11 major S&P 500 sectors. The energy sector jumped 0.76 percent as oil prices hovered near $80 per barrel on growing concerns over global supply.
Chevron was up 1.6 percent, also helped by HSBC's upgrade for the stock and Exxon Mobil Corp rose 0.7 percent.
At 10:08 a.m. ET the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 33.54 points, or 0.13 percent, at 26,004.60, the S&P 500 was down 1.57 points, or 0.05 percent, at 2,886.32 and the Nasdaq Composite was down 46.01 points, or 0.58 percent, at 7,926.47.
The Philadelphia Semiconductor index was down 2.51 percent after companies related to memory chips came under pressure after Goldman Sachs warned of lower prices for such chips due to an oversupply of DRAM and NAND chips.
Micron fell 5 percent, the most on the S&P, after Goldman Sachs cut its rating on the stock. Chip equipment makers slid, led by a 5.3 percent drop in ASML Holding and a 4.3 percent drop in Entegris.
Gilead Sciences rose 3 percent, the most on the S&P, after its rheumatoid arthritis drug, being developed jointly with Galapagos NV, met the main goal of a study.
Nielsen was up 3.9 percent after the TV ratings provider said it will expand a review of strategic options to include a sale of the entire TV ratings company.
The Federal Reserve's "Beige Book", a summary of the state of U.S. businesses across the central bank's 12 regional districts for the month of August, is expected at 2 p.m. ET (1800 GMT).
Advancing issues outnumbered decliners for a 1.18-to-1 ratio on the NYSE, but declining issues outnumbered advancers for a 1.44-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P index recorded 21 new 52-week highs and six new lows, while the Nasdaq recorded 46 new highs and 43 new lows.
(Reporting by Shreyashi Sanyal in Bengaluru; Editing by Arun Koyyur and Shounak Dasgupta)
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