US STOCKS-S&P 500 closes nominally higher amid COVID-19 spikes, muted data

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By Stephen Culp
NEW YORK, June 18 (Reuters) - The S&P 500 closed
nominally higher on Thursday as investors weighed a resurgence
in coronavirus infections and the possibility of a new round of
shutdowns as well as data that suggested the U.S. economy might
not bounce back with quick, V-shaped recovery.
All three major U.S. stock indexes were range-bound and
oscillated through much of the day, but the S&P ended the
session in the black along with the tech-heavy Nasdaq.
The blue-chip Dow lost ground.
"The market's looking for its next big impulse," said Chuck
Carlson, chief executive officer at Horizon Investment Services
in Hammond, Indiana. "There are a lot of impulses in the market
for investors to weigh, sift through and take into account to
figure out the next direction."
While several U.S. states have reported surges in new
COVID-19 cases after re-opening their economies, President
Donald Trump insisted the United States would not enact a new
round of restrictions to curb the pandemic's spread.
"Investors are in wait-and-see mode," said Charlie Ripley,
senior market strategist for Allianz Investment Management in
Minneapolis.
"The consensus is we're on the road to the recovery, but
there could be bumps along the way and these increasing virus
numbers could be one of those bumps," Ripley added.
Initial jobless claims declined slightly last week to a
still-bruising 1.51 million, according to the Labor Department.
The number was worse than consensus, and continuing claims
remain stubbornly high at 20.54 million, suggesting the labor
market has a long road to recovery. Unofficially, the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI fell
39.92 points, or 0.15%, to 26,079.69, the S&P 500 .SPX gained
1.82 points, or 0.06%, to 3,115.31 and the Nasdaq Composite
.IXIC added 32.52 points, or 0.33%, to 9,943.0
Grocery chain Kroger Co KR.N beat quarterly earnings
estimates and said it expects to exceed its 2020 same-store
sales outlook. But the company did not reaffirm or provide new
2020 forecasts, sending its shares lower. Shares of Spotify Technology SA SPOT.N jumped after the
music streaming company inked a deal with AT&T Inc's T.N
Warner Brothers and DC Entertainment to add popular DC Comics
character podcasts to its library. Cruise operator Carnival Corp's CCL.N stock fell after
reporting a record $4.4 billion quarterly loss after
pandemic-related write-downs. Biogen Inc BIIB.O dropped after a U.S. district court
ruled in favor of generic drugmaker Mylan NV MYL.O in a patent
dispute. Mylan NV's shares gained ground. Shares of industrial services provider Team Inc TISI.N
plunged after missing quarterly earnings estimates amid falling
demand.