Wall Street flat, losses on Facebook, stocks of chips offsetting the bank, energy gains

(Reuters) – US stocks changed little on Tuesday, as higher oil prices pushed up energy stocks, and banks anticipated rising interest rates, but losses on Facebook and manufacturers chips weighed.

Facebook (FB.O) dropped 2.5% and was the main drag on the Nasdaq and S & P 500, after co-founders of its photo-sharing application, Instagram, resigned with little explanation.

The .SPNY energy sector jumped 0.72% as Brent prices reached their highest level in four years, stimulated by the imminence of US sanctions on Iranian crude exports and the reluctance of OPEC and Russia to increase their production.

The financial sector recorded an overall increase of 0.25%, with banks rising 0.4%, anticipating that the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates at the end of its two-day meeting on Wednesday.

Bank of America (BAC.N), JP Morgan (JPM.N), Wells Fargo (WFC.N) and Citigroup were all higher, as were US 10-year benchmark US10YT = RR benchmark returns at the key level of 3%.

But the Fed's third rise this year would make money the most attractive in the last decade, reducing the attractiveness of equities, especially dividend-paying companies such as utilities. Utilities sector .SPLRCU slipped 0.66%.

"Investors are concerned about the Fed meeting, in that an acceleration of a higher rate cycle would be worrisome," said Andre Bakhos, managing director of New Vines Capital LLC in Bernardsville, in New Jersey.

"They are looking for statements that suggest a stable rate environment as opposed to a faster rate increase."

The Fed's predictions of future rate hikes and comments on the impact of the escalating trade dispute between the United States and China will also help guide investment.

At 9:55 am Eastern Daylight Time, the Dow Jones Industrial Average Index was up 43.00 points, or 0.16%, to 26,605.05, the S & P 500 .SPX up from 1.37 points, or 0.05%, to points, or 0.01%, to 7,992.35.

The Philadelphia semiconductor index .SOX dropped 1.18%, with most chip makers falling after logging declines by Raymond James and KeyBanc.

Intel (INTC.O), which was downgraded by Raymond James, fell 2.0%.

Nike (NKE.N) was up 0.1% from its expected quarterly results after the close of the market.

CenturyLink (CTL.N) dropped by 8.5% after Chief Financial Officer Sunit Patel unexpectedly left the company to join T-Mobile (TMUS.O) to oversee its integration with Sprint (S.N), which changed little the day.

Escalating issues outperformed the decline rates by a ratio of 1.51 to 1 on the NYSE and a ratio of 1.44 to 1 on the Nasdaq.

The S & P index posted 17 new highs of 52 weeks and three new lows, while the Nasdaq recorded 31 new highs and 12 new lows.