* AT&T rises on strong quarterly results
* Southwest Airlines rises on smaller-than-expected loss
* U.S. weekly jobless claims decline further
* Dow down 0.19%, S&P off 0.04%, Nasdaq up 0.21%
(Adds comments, updates prices to early afternoon)
By Shivani Kumaresan and Shreyashi Sanyal
April 22 (Reuters) - The S&P 500 and the Dow edged lower on
Thursday as a resurgence of COVID-19 cases globally sapped
appetite for stocks, while market participants digested earnings
from U.S. airlines and AT&T, along with mixed readings on
economic data.
Investor sentiment gradually improved by early afternoon,
with seven of the 11 main S&P 500 sectors rising. The S&P 500
healthcare sector .SPXHC hit a fresh record high, while
industrials .SPLRCI were the biggest gainers.
Supporting the mood was data showing the number of Americans
filing new claims for unemployment benefits last week dropped to
a fresh one-year low.
The Labor Department report suggested layoffs were subsiding
and expectations were rising for another month of blockbuster
job growth in April. Investors are now awaiting quarterly results from technology
behemoths next week to provide markets with some direction.
Shares of Apple Inc AAPL.O rose 0.3%, helping the tech-heavy
Nasdaq .IXIC remain afloat.
"The most important catalyst is waiting for key FAANG
earnings next week, that's going to tell us the next 50 points
on the S&P, either up or down ... And in that information vacuum
the market really is struggling for direction," Great Hill
Capital Chairman Thomas Hayes said.
American Airlines Group Inc AAL.O and Southwest Airlines
Co LUV.N reported a smaller-than-expected quarterly loss,
signaling a revival in travel demand. The performance of their
shares was mixed though, with Southwest rising 1.5% and American
Airlines falling 0.7%.
Shares of AT&T Inc T.N jumped 4.3% after the company's
wireless subscriber additions trounced analysts' estimates.
Separately, data showed U.S. home sales fell to a
seven-month low in March, pulled lower by an acute property
shortage, which is boosting prices and making owning a house
more expensive for some first-time buyers. Speedy vaccination rollouts in the United States has
improved the pace of economic recovery, infused confidence among
people and given a solid start to the first-quarter earnings
season.
However, a surge in COVID-19 cases in India and elsewhere in
Asia has kept investors guarded.
"The market is a little bit concerned the coronavirus cases
flaring up in India and in parts of Asia which have not had
vaccine rollouts as strongly as we had in the U.S.," Hayes said.
At 12:05 p.m. ET the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI was
down 64.28 points, or 0.19%, at 34,073.03, the S&P 500 .SPX
was down 1.51 points, or 0.04%, at 4,171.91 and the Nasdaq
Composite .IXIC was up 29.57 points, or 0.21%, at 13,979.79.
Chipmaker Intel Corp INTC.O is expected to post a drop in
first-quarter revenue later in the day, with analysts looking
forward to updates on its U.S. manufacturing plants and chips
for automakers amid a global microchip supply shortage. Its
shares fell 1.1%.
Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 1.48-to-1 ratio
on the NYSE and by a 2.35-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P index recorded 76 new 52-week highs and no new low,
while the Nasdaq recorded 74 new highs and seven new lows.