US STOCKS-S&P 500, Dow slip after grim jobless claims data

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* Facebook surges after upbeat quarterly revenue
* Tesla jumps after reporting profitable quarter
* U.S. weekly jobless claims remain elevated
* McDonald's dips as quarterly profit slides
* Indexes down: Dow 0.88%, S&P 500 0.63%, Nasdaq 0.04%

(Updates to open)
By C Nivedita and Shreyashi Sanyal
April 30 (Reuters) - The S&P 500 and Dow Jones indexes
dipped on Thursday as a grim U.S. jobless claims report took the
shine off a strong month for stock markets globally, but
encouraging quarterly earnings reports from Facebook and Tesla
supported the Nasdaq.
Nine of the 11 major S&P 500 sectors were trading lower, but
declines were led by the defensive real estate .SPLRCR ,
utilities .SPLRCU and consumer staples .SPLRCS indexes,
suggesting the mood was still risk-on.
Dramatic U.S. monetary and fiscal stimulus and hopes of a
revival in business activity as states reopen from lockdowns
have powered a Wall Street rally in April, putting the benchmark
S&P 500 .SPX on course for its best month since 1974.
But analysts have warned of another selloff as economic data
underlines the extent of the damage already done, with investors
also wary of the pace of the recovery from a looming recession.
On Thursday, the Labor Department's report showed initial
unemployment claims totaled 3.84 million for the week ended
April 25, a day after data confirmed the biggest contraction for
the U.S. economy in the first quarter since the Great
Recession. "In large part this data is seen as something we've already
taken for granted," said Art Hogan, chief market strategist at
National Securities in New York.
"We know that the economic data, especially as it pertains
to labor, is bad and is going to get worse."
The Federal Reserve pledged on Wednesday to expand emergency
programs to revive growth but dashed hopes for a fast rebound,
saying the economy could feel the weight of consumer fear and
social distancing for a year. At 10:21 a.m. ET the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI was
down 216.97 points, or 0.88%, at 24,416.89 and the S&P 500
.SPX was down 18.52 points, or 0.63%, at 2,920.99.
The Nasdaq Composite .IXIC , however, was down 3.74 points,
or nearly flat, at 8,910.97, cushioned by a 5.9% jump for
Facebook Inc FB.O after the social media giant posted
better-than-expected quarterly revenue. The pandemic has been less disruptive to tech-related
stocks, with Facebook, Apple Inc AAPL.O , Amazon.com Inc
AMZN.O , Netflix Inc NFLX.O and Alphabet Inc GOOGL.O - the
so-called FAANG group of stocks - gaining between 12% and 25%
this month.
"The SPX price action during this crisis has been led by a
handful of 'haves' (mostly the FAANGs) in a world in which most
companies are 'have nots'," said Nancy Davis, founder of asset
management firm Quadratic Capital Management in Greenwich,
Connecticut.
The two remaining FAANG stocks - Apple Inc and Amazon.com -
will report results after markets close.
Electric car maker Tesla Inc TSLA.O climbed 5.5% after
posting its third straight quarterly profit, taking investors by
surprise as its automaker peers were hit by a slump in consumer
demand and factory shutdowns. McDonald's Corp MCD.N shed 2.5% after it reported a 16.7%
slide in quarterly profit as most of its restaurants across the
globe limited their services to deliveries and take-aways.
American Airlines AAL.O fell 3.4% as the airline operator
posted its first quarterly loss since emerging from bankruptcy
in 2013 and warned of a $70 million a day cash burn.