* Costco climbs after posting upbeat Q1 results

* U.S. business activity picks up in December - survey

* Indexes: Dow down 0.1%, S&P 500 down 0.2, Nasdaq up 0.2%

NEW YORK, Dec 15 (Reuters) - The Dow and S&P 500 edged lower Friday afternoon after Federal Reserve Bank of New York President John Williams said it was too soon to be talking about rate cuts, but the S&P 500 was still on track for a seventh straight week of gains.

That would be the benchmark index's longest weekly winning streak since September 2017.

Stocks rallied this week after the Fed in its policy statement Wednesday signaled lower borrowing costs in 2024.

The real estate sector was down the most of the S&P 500 sectors on the day, followed by utilities, with both groups giving back some of their big gains tied to the Fed statement.

An index of semiconductors was up 0.4% and is up about 9% for the week.

The recent gains put the S&P 500 up about 23% for the year to date.

"What I think we got this week is that (Fed Chair Jerome Powell) doesn't want to overly punish the economy with (rates) being higher for longer for no good reason," said Kim Forrest, chief investment officer at Bokeh Capital Partners in Pittsburgh.

"I don't know if we're going to get whatever is considered a Santa Claus rally, but it looks like all things being considered, we could drift higher from here."

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 53.06 points, or 0.14%, to 37,195.29, the S&P 500 lost 8.42 points, or 0.18%, to 4,711.13 and the Nasdaq Composite added 34.89 points, or 0.24%, to 14,796.45.

The expiry of quarterly derivatives contracts tied to stocks, index options and futures, also known as "triple witching", could potentially add to market volatility late in the day.

Shares of Costco Wholesale rose 4.4% after the retailer topped Wall Street estimates for first-quarter results due to demand for cheaper groceries.

Earlier on Friday, a survey showed domestic business activity picked up in December amid rising orders and demand for workers, which could further help to allay fears of a sharp slowdown in economic growth in the fourth quarter.

Declining issues outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE by a 2.43-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.72-to-1 ratio favored decliners.

The S&P 500 posted 48 new 52-week highs and 2 new lows; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 149 new highs and 69 new lows. (Reporting by Caroline Valetkevitch; additional reporting by Shristi Achar A and Johann M Cherian in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta, Maju Samuel and Aurora Ellis)