US STOCKS-Wall St falls as health, tech shares drag, tariff deadline looms

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* Dec. 15 U.S.-China tariff deadline in focus
* ArQule shares soar after $2.7 billion Merck buyout deal
* 3M falls after Citigroup downgrade
* Fed policy decision due later in week
* Indexes down: Dow 0.3%, S&P 500 0.22%, Nasdaq 0.26%

(Updates to late afternoon)
By Lewis Krauskopf
Dec 9 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks pulled back on Monday from
near record levels, dragged lower by healthcare and technology
shares, as investors braced for a busy week of political and
economic news including a potential turning point in the
U.S.-China trade dispute.
Wall Street is focused on Dec. 15, when the next round of
U.S. tariffs on Chinese imports is scheduled to take effect.
China said on Monday that it hoped to make a trade deal with the
United States as soon as possible. Investor hopes of at least an initial U.S.-China agreement
has helped pushed major stock indexes to record highs, with the
benchmark S&P 500 .SPX hovering about 0.5% below its all-time
high.
“It's not uncommon for stocks to pause, given where they
are, in advance of some news,” said Willie Delwiche, investment
strategist at Baird in Milwaukee.
“We get the chance to see whether or not the rally we have
had in U.S. stocks is warranted from a fundamental perspective
and whether or not we are still moving in the right direction,”
Delwiche said.
Aside from U.S.-China trade developments, investors will
focus this week on the U.S. Federal Reserve's policy meeting, an
election in the United Kingdom, and potential agreement related
to a North American trade pact.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI fell 83.53 points,
or 0.3%, to 27,931.53, the S&P 500 .SPX lost 7.06 points, or
0.22%, to 3,138.85 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC dropped
22.37 points, or 0.26%, to 8,634.16.
Most of the S&P 500 sectors were lower, with healthcare
.SPXHC and tech .SPLRCT weighing the most on the index.
In company news, Merck & Co MRK.N said it would buy cancer
drug developer ArQule Inc ARQL.O for $2.7 billion, prompting
shares of ArQule to double in value. Merck shares were little
changed. Shares of industrial conglomerate 3M Co MMM.N dropped 0.7%
after Citigroup cut its rating on the stock to "neutral" from
"buy." Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by a
1.03-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.17-to-1 ratio favored decliners.
The S&P 500 posted 23 new 52-week highs and 1 new low; the
Nasdaq Composite recorded 83 new highs and 49 new lows.