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* Core U.S. retail sales rise 0.5 percent in April
* Yum Brands falls as monthly Chinese sales drop
* Indexes: Dow down 0.2 pct, S&P flat, Nasdaq up 0.1 pct
By Caroline Valetkevitch
NEW YORK, May 13 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks closed littlechanged on Monday, pausing after hitting record highs last week,but strength in healthcare issues helped to keep declines incheck.
The S&P 500 healthcare sector climbed 0.7 percentand was the day's best performer.
Shares of Theravance jumped 17.9 percent to $41.20after Irish drugmaker Elan agreed to a $1billion deal to buy 21 percent of the royalties that Theravancereceives from GlaxoSmithKline for itsrespiratory drugs.
The day's flat close followed a third straight week of gainson the major indexes, with both the Dow and S&P 500 settingrecord closing highs last week. The S&P 500 remains up 14.5percent for the year so far.
While some analysts argue the long-term trend is stillhigher, many see momentum waning in the near term in the absenceof positive catalysts. Volume has been lighter than average, andvolatility has been low in recent days.
"Intraday volatility has essentially been nonexistent. Ithink it means people are really sitting on the sidelines rightnow seeing which way it's going to go," said Uri Landesman,president of Platinum Partners in New York. He expects the rallyto top out in the next two weeks.
The CBOE Volatility index ended down 0.3 percent.
The Dow Jones industrial average ended down 26.81points, or 0.18 percent, at 15,091.68. The Standard & Poor's 500Index was up 0.07 point at 1,633.77. The Nasdaq CompositeIndex was up 2.21 points, or 0.06 percent, at 3,438.79.
Among the day's declining issues, Yum Brands Inc fell 2 percent to $68.92. After the market closed on Friday, thefast food chain operator posted a steep decline in Chinese Aprilsales.
Other big healthcare group gainers included Pfizer,up 2.3 percent at $29.37; Gilead, up 3.1 percent at$54.47; and Biogen Idec, up 4.5 percent at $222.74.
Helping to limit the market's decline, retail sales rose 0.1percent in April, better than the 0.3 percent drop that had beenexpected and returning to growth following a decline in March. Excluding autos, gasoline and building materials, core salesrose 0.5 percent. Retail sales account for about 30 percent ofU.S. consumer spending.
Investors are at odds over whether positive economic datacan help the market rise further, or whether it will spell theend of the Federal Reserve's monetary stimulus, which couldderail the rally, said Joseph Tanious, global market strategistat J.P. Morgan Funds.
Other data showed business inventories were unchanged inMarch for a second straight month, versus expectations of a 0.3percent rise, suggesting restocking could help second-quartereconomic growth.
Earnings have been mostly better than expected. With 90percent of the S&P 500 having reported, 67.2 percent ofcompanies have topped earnings expectations, according toThomson Reuters data, even with the average over the past fourquarters. Only 46.9 percent have beaten revenue expectations,below the 52 percent average over the past four quarters.
U.S.-listed shares of Perion Network surged 10.6percent to $13.94 after the Israeli consumer Internet companyposted first-quarter earnings.
Volume was roughly 5.3 billion shares traded on the New YorkStock Exchange, the Nasdaq and the NYSE MKT, well below theaverage daily closing volume of about 6.4 billion this year.
Declines outpaced advances on the NYSE by nearly 3 to 2 andthe Nasdaq by a ratio of about 13 to 11.
