US STOCKS-Wall St flat after weak earnings, strong data

                                
   * Retail sales, PPI data better than expected
                                
 * Best Buy, Kroger Q2 earnings miss estimates
                                
 (Updates to midmorning)
                                
 By Chuck Mikolajczak
                                
 NEW YORK, Sept 15 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks were little
changed on Tuesday after disappointing earnings from
electronics retailer Best Buy <BBY.N> and supermarket chain
Kroger <KR.N> and stronger-than-expected retail sales and
producer price data failed to move investors.
                                
 August retail sales jumped 2.7 percent, topping economists'
expectations of a 2.0 percent rise. Excluding autos, sales rose
1.1 percent versus the estimate of an 0.4 percent increase.
[ID:nN15548319]
                                
 The August producer price index (PPI) gained 1.7 percent,
due to the biggest climb in gasoline prices in 10 years, while
economists looked for an 0.8 percent increase. Excluding
volatile food and energy items, the PPI rose 0.2 percent,
compared with the estimate of a 0.1 percent increase.
                                
 An uptick in consumer spending is seen as crucial for any
economic recovery to continue.
                                
 Best Buy Co Inc reported second-quarter earnings that were
shy of estimates, although the company raised its full-year
outlook. The stock slipped 2.3 percent to $39.50.
[ID:nBNG480205]
                                
 Kroger Co slid 8 percent to $20.31 after posting
second-quarter profit below estimates and trimmed its full-year
outlook. [ID:nN15548566]
                                
 On the anniversary of the collapse of Lehman Brothers
<LEHM.PK>, the U.S. Treasury Department is still dealing with
the fallout of the financial crisis. For details, see
[ID:nLEHMAN]
                                
 "It's a little bit of conflicting things going on. Best Buy
misses the quarter but raises guidance, suggesting things are
getting better the second half of the year. Then Kroger comes
out and lays an egg," said Kevin Kruszenski, head of listed
trading at KeyBanc Capital Markets in Cleveland.
                                
 "It's still a minefield out there."
                                
 The Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> dropped 5.89
points, or 0.06 percent, to 9,620.91. The Standard & Poor's 500
Index <.SPX> shed 1.58 points, or 0.15 percent, to 1,047.76.
The Nasdaq Composite Index <.IXIC> gained 2.74 points, or 0.13
percent, to 2,094.52.
                                
 The government is in talks with Citigroup Inc <C.N> about
selling the roughly one-third stake it acquired as part of its
bailout of the company, Bloomberg reported, citing people
familiar with the matter. Citi shares were down 5.1 percent to
$4.29. [ID:nN14524209].
                                
 EBay Inc <EBAY.O> added 1.5 percent to $24.17 after Piper
Jaffray upgraded shares of the online auctioneer to
"overweight" from "underweight," based on its quarterly
eCommerce survey.
                                
 MasterCard Inc's <MA.N> chief financial officer said the
volume of processed transactions fell 8 percent in July and
August in the United States. MasterCard shares gained 1 percent
to $209.78. [ID:nN15546192]
                                
 A government report showed U.S. business inventories fell 1
percent in July, pushing the dollar amount to its lowest level
since March 2006. [ID:nN14414891]
                                
 (Reporting by Chuck Mikolajczak; editing by Jeffrey
Benkoe)