US STOCKS-Facebook lifts S&P 500 to record high

* Apple higher after strong quarterly results
* Communication services leads gains among S&P 500 sectors
* U.S. economy accelerates in Q1; jobless claims edge lower
* Indexes: Dow +0.53%, S&P 500 +0.51%, Nasdaq +0.13%

(Updates with afternoon trading)
By Noel Randewich and Shivani Kumaresan
April 29 (Reuters) - The S&P 500 hit an intra-day 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 jumped over 6% to an 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 jumping 2.6%, boosted by
Facebook and 1.6% rise in Alphabet GOOGL.O .
Apple Inc AAPL.O climbed 0.5% after late on Wednesday
posting sales and profit ahead of Wall Street estimates on
strong iPhone and Mac sales. Amazon AMZN.O was up 0.3% ahead of 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 3.4% after it reported higher
quarterly earnings but warned of supply-chain bottlenecks.
Drugmaker Merck & Co Inc MRK.N slid 5% after posting a
drop in quarterly profit.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI was up 0.53% at
33,999.33 points, while the S&P 500 .SPX gained 0.51% to
4,204.66.
The Nasdaq Composite .IXIC added 0.13% to 14,068.83.
Twitter Inc TWTR.N and Gilead Sciences Inc GILD.O were
each down more than 1% ahead of their quarterly reports after
the market closes.
Declining issues outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE by a
1.12-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.43-to-1 ratio favored decliners.
The S&P 500 posted 109 new 52-week highs and no new lows;
the Nasdaq Composite recorded 133 new highs and 21 new lows.