Updates prices to afternoon

By Sinéad Carew and Johann M Cherian

Feb 24 (Reuters) - Wall Street's main indexes were mixed in choppy trading on Monday, with technology stocks creating the biggest drag as investors awaited results from chip giant Nvidia for clues on the future of demand for artificial intelligence technology.

The Dow and the S&P 500 managed small gains. The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite slipped.

Adding to uncertainty, a TD Cowen analyst report published late on Friday said Microsoft has scrapped leases for sizeable data center capacity in the U.S., suggesting a potential oversupply of AI infrastructure.

Microsoft said its plan to invest over $80 billion in AI and cloud capacity this fiscal year was intact but a spokesperson said it "may strategically pace or adjust" infrastructure in some areas.

The report came weeks after the launch of low-cost AI models from China's DeepSeek stoked doubts about whether U.S. companies were spending too much on the technology and overestimating future demand.

"Markets are already jittery and looking for a reason to take profits," said Gene Goldman, chief investment officer at Cetera Investment Management, noting that any question about AI is seen as a reason to take profits since the technology has driven market growth for the last few years.

Along with worries about tariffs and inflation, investors are getting more anxious about economic growth after last week's batch of weak economic data and a disappointing forecast from Walmart WMT.N.

"Volatility is being driven by market uncertainty about whether we're facing a growth scare or an inflation scare," said Goldman.

At 02:24 p.m., the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI rose 196.41 points, or 0.45%, to 43,624.43, the S&P 500 .SPX gained 2.63 points, or 0.04%, to 6,015.76 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC lost 87.77 points, or 0.45%, to 19,436.24.

Six of the 11 S&P 500 sectors were advancing with healthcare .SPXHC leading gains, up about 1%, while utilities .SPLRCU, off 0.8%, fell most followed closely by technology .SPLRCT, down 0.5%.

Nvidia's quarterly results, expected on Wednesday, put the technology sector in the spotlight for the week. Nvidia shares were last down 1% along with Microsoft stock.

"The dominance of the AI tech trade has run its course, not that these companies aren't great stocks. We're headed for a major digestion phase," said Peter Boockvar, CIO at Bleakley Financial Group.

On the data front, the Personal Consumption Expenditure index - the Federal Reserve's preferred inflation gauge - is expected on Friday and could help markets gauge the timing of the central bank's first rate cut this year.

Interest rate futures indicate the Fed will leave borrowing costs unchanged for the first half of the year, according to data compiled by LSEG.

Apple AAPL.O reversed premarket declines to gain more than 1%. The iPhone maker unveiled plans to spend $500 billion in U.S. investments in the next four years, including setting up a giant factory in Texas for AI servers.

Among others, Berkshire Hathaway BRKa.N BRKb.N shares were up close to 5% and hit record highs earlier in the day, after Warren Buffett's conglomerate reported a record annual profit.

Nike NKE.N added more than 5% after Jefferies raised its rating to "buy" from "hold".

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 1.22-to-1 ratio on the NYSE where there were 76 new highs and 116 new lows.

On the Nasdaq, 1,913 stocks rose and 2,449 fell as declining issues outnumbered advancers by a 1.28-to-1 ratio. The S&P 500 posted 27 new 52-week highs and 8 new lows while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 36 new highs and 206 new lows.

(Reporting by Sinéad Carew in New York, Johann M Cherian, Sukriti Gupta and in Bengaluru; Editing by Devika Syamnath and David Gregorio)

((sinead.carew@thomsonreuters.com; +13322191897;))