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Apple, Alphabet, Amazon slide ahead of earnings

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Fed decision on interest rates on Wednesday

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J&J falls after U.S. court rejects talc-lawsuit strategy

(Adds close of U.S. market, analyst comment)

NEW YORK, Jan 30 (Reuters) - Major U.S. stock indexes sank on Monday, weighed down by declines in technology and other megacap shares, as investors looked toward a major week of events including central bank meetings and a slew of earnings reports.

The heavyweight tech sector was among the biggest S&P 500 sector decliners on the day. Shares of Apple Inc , Amazon.com Inc and Google parent Alphabet Inc , which are due to post results later this week, all slumped.

More than 100 S&P 500 companies are expected to report results this week, which also includes central bank meetings in the United States and Europe and closely watched U.S. employment data.

“The market has had a big run and the trading is a bit more cautious heading into a week which likely will be an inflection point for the overall market,” said Keith Lerner, co-chief investment officer at Truist Advisory Services.

According to preliminary data, the S&P 500 lost 52.38 points, or 1.29%, to end at 4,018.18 points, while the Nasdaq Composite lost 227.89 points, or 1.96%, to 11,393.81. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 254.47 points, or 0.75%, to 33,723.61.

Despite Monday's declines, the S&P 500 was on track to post its biggest January gain since 2019.

The U.S. central bank is seen hiking the Fed funds rate by 25 basis points at the end of its two-day policy meeting on Wednesday, following a 2022 in which the Fed aggressively boosted rates to control soaring inflation.

Fed Chair Jerome Powell's news conference will be scrutinized for whether the rate-hiking cycle may be coming to a close and for signs of how rates could stay elevated.

“It’s probably one of the most important meetings since the whole thing began," said Sameer Samana, senior global market strategist at Wells Fargo Investment Institute. "Unless the Fed extends that timeline meaningfully from what the market expects, which is that the Fed will be done in the next meeting or two, this may end up marking the pause, so to speak.”

Meanwhile, the European Central Bank is expected to deliver another large rate hike on Thursday.

Investors are also focused on earnings reports, amid concerns the economy may be facing a recession. With more than 140 companies having reported so far, S&P 500 earnings are expected to have fallen 3% in the fourth quarter compared with the prior-year period, according to Refinitiv IBES.

In company news, shares of Johnson & Johnson fell after the healthcare giant's strategy to use bankruptcy to resolve the multibillion-dollar litigation over claims its talc products cause cancer was rejected by a federal appeals court. (Reporting by Lewis Krauskopf in New York, and Shreyashi Sanyal and Johann M Cherian in Bengaluru Editing by Anil D'Silva and Matthew Lewis)