(For a live blog on the U.S. stock market, click or type LIVE/ in a news window.)

* 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 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 fell 83.53 points, or 0.3%, to 27,931.53, the S&P 500 lost 7.06 points, or 0.22%, to 3,138.85 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 22.37 points, or 0.26%, to 8,634.16.

Most of the S&P 500 sectors were lower, with healthcare and tech weighing the most on the index.

In company news, Merck & Co said it would buy cancer drug developer ArQule Inc for $2.7 billion, prompting shares of ArQule to double in value. Merck shares were little changed.

Shares of industrial conglomerate 3M Co 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. (Additional reporting by Shreyashi Sanyal and Medha Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D'Silvan and Steve Orlofsky)