US STOCKS-Facebook fuels S&P 500 to record high close

* Apple nearly unchanged after strong quarterly results
* Communication services leads gains among S&P 500 sectors
* U.S. economy accelerates in Q1; jobless claims edge lower

(Updates with close of trading)
By Noel Randewich and Shivani Kumaresan
April 29 (Reuters) - The S&P 500 closed at a record high on
Thursday, fueled by gains in Facebook following its strong
earnings report, while investors awaited upcoming results from
Amazon.
Facebook Inc FB.O surged to an intra-day all-time high
after beating market expectations for quarterly revenue and
profit late on Wednesday, helped by a surge in digital ad
spending during the pandemic and higher ad prices. Seven of the 11 major S&P 500 sectors rose, with the
communication services index .SPLRCL leading the way, boosted
by Facebook and Alphabet GOOGL.O .
Apple Inc AAPL.O was nearly unchanged after late on
Wednesday posting sales and profit ahead of Wall Street
estimates on strong iPhone and Mac sales. Amazon AMZN.O was scheduled to post its quarterly report
after the bell, with investors looking for signs of how the
online retailer will be affected as the economy recovers from
the coronavirus pandemic.
"Investors are really looking for significantly outsized
results, and also outsized guidance as they look ahead to
upcoming quarters," said Greg Bassuk, chief executive of AXS
Investments. "We believe a lot of optimism has already been
baked into the market, and we are cautioning investors to expect
significant volatility."
Of the 265 companies in the S&P 500 that have reported so
far, 87% have topped analysts' earnings estimates, with
Refinitiv IBES data now predicting a 45% jump in profit growth.
U.S. economic growth accelerated in the first quarter,
fueled by massive government aid to households and businesses,
while a labor market report showed 553,000 people filed for
unemployment benefits last week, compared with 566,000 in the
prior period.
Caterpillar Inc CAT.N dipped after it reported higher
quarterly earnings but warned of supply-chain bottlenecks.
Drugmaker Merck & Co Inc MRK.N slid after posting a drop
in quarterly profit.
McDonald's MCD.N rose after the burger chain beat Wall
Street estimates for quarterly comparable sales and said it
returned to pre-pandemic levels of growth.
Unofficially, the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI rose
0.71% to end at 34,059.42 points, while the S&P 500 .SPX
gained 0.64% to 4,210.02.
The Nasdaq Composite .IXIC climbed 0.19% to 14,077.78.
Twitter Inc TWTR.N and Gilead Sciences Inc GILD.O dipped
ahead of their quarterly reports after the market closes.