CORRECTED-US STOCKS-Tech titans drag Wall St lower as virus cases mount (July 24)

(Corrects paragraph 8 in July 24 story to say Greg Hahn is CIO
at Winthrop Capital Management, not Sanctuary Wealth)
* Intel hits four-month low, rival AMD rises
* Drugmakers fall ahead of Trump's pricing order
* American Express down after quarterly profit plunges
* Indexes down: Dow 0.42%, S&P 0.45%, Nasdaq 0.69%

By Medha Singh
July 24 (Reuters) - Technology stocks dragged Wall Street's
main indexes lower on Friday on the back of Sino-U.S. tensions
and fears over rising U.S. COVID-19 cases, putting the S&P 500
on track to erase all of its gains for the week.
High-flying companies Apple Inc AAPL.O and Microsoft Corp
MSFT.O , which were pivotal in driving the stock market's
recovery in recent months, fell 0.5% and 0.3% respectively.
The S&P technology index .SPLRCT dropped 0.8%.
Intel Corp INTC.O tumbled 15.3% after the company said it
was six months behind schedule in developing next-generation,
power-efficient chip technology and that it would consider
farming out more work to outside semiconductor foundries.
Rival Advanced Micro Devices Inc AMD.O gained 13%, but the
broader Philadelphia semiconductor index .SOX dropped 0.7%.
U.S. stocks are set to fall for the second day as investors
feared that the COVID-19 health crisis that has spiraled in
recent weeks and has infected over 4 million Americans, could
hamper a recovery in economic activity.
Optimism about a potential coronavirus vaccine and fiscal
stimulus package had helped the benchmark S&P 500 hit a
five-month high earlier this week.
"Our fundamental outlook for the U.S. economy is a long
recovery. We do not see sustained growth in employment even
under scenario where we have a vaccine, it's still going to take
a long time for this virus to get under control," said Greg
Hahn, chief investment officer at Winthrop Capital Management in
Indiana.
Latest survey showed U.S. business activity increased to a
six-month high in July, but companies reported a drop in new
orders as a resurgence in new COVID-19 cases weighed on demand.
Sentiment took a hit earlier in the day after Beijing
ordered Washington to close its consulate in the city of
Chengdu, days after U.S. ordered the closure of the Chinese
consulate in Houston. At 11:22 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI
was down 112.61 points, or 0.42%, at 26,539.72 and the S&P 500
.SPX was down 14.53 points, or 0.45%, at 3,221.13. The Nasdaq
Composite .IXIC was down 72.09 points, or 0.69%, at 10,389.33.
Shares of U.S. drugmakers fell ahead of executive orders by
President Donald Trump aimed at lowering drug
prices. The S&P healthcare index .SPXHC shed 1.1%.
Of the 113 S&P 500 companies that have reported quarterly
results, 80.5% of them have beaten dramatically lowered profit
estimates, according to IBES Refinitiv data.
American Express Co AXP.N slipped 1.2% after it reported
an 85% slump in quarterly profit as credit card spending
collapsed. Declining issues outnumbered advancers for a 1.65-to-1 ratio
on the NYSE and for a 2.27-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P index recorded seven new 52-week highs and no new
low, while the Nasdaq recorded 17 new highs and 14 new lows.