US STOCKS-S&P 500 ends down, Walt Disney weighs

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* Alibaba sinks on Chinese regulatory ire
* Amazon leads gains in consumer discretionary
* Alexion Pharma among top boosts on AstraZeneca offer

(Updates with close of trading, volume data and market breadth)
By Karen Pierog and Noel Randewich
Dec 14 (Reuters) - The S&P 500 ended lower on Monday,
weighed down by Walt Disney, while Alexion Pharmaceuticals
jumped on a $39 billion buyout offer from AstraZeneca in one of
the year's biggest deals.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average hit a record high before
ending lower, pulled down by Walt Disney.
U.S. officials began to administer the vaccine developed by
Pfizer PFE.N and its German partner BioNTech BNTX.O on
Monday following emergency-use approval from federal regulators
last week. Shares of Disney, down 3.65%, and Pfizer, down almost 5%,
weighed more than any other stocks on the S&P 500.
The index's four-day losing streak was its longest since
Sept. 21.
The S&P 500 consumer discretionary index .SPLRCD was the
strongest gainer among sector indexes, up 1% and lifted by a
rise in Amazon AMZN.O , up 1.4%. The energy index .SPNY
tumbled over 3%.
The S&P 500 gave up earlier gains of almost 1%. The index
has surged about 13% to record highs in 2020, despite the
pandemic, which has wrought economic devastation and killed more
than a million people.
"While the entire market is pleased, is optimistic, is
bullish about the arrival of the vaccine this morning into the
U.S., I think the average investor is realizing that this
roll-out, this distribution of the vaccine is not going to be a
silver bullet, is not going to go as fast as one hopes," said
Jake Dollarhide, chief executive officer of Longbow Asset
Management in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Alexion Pharmaceuticals Inc ALXN.O was among the top
boosts to the S&P 500 .SPX and the Nasdaq .IXIC , surging
about 30% to a 4-1/2 year high after British drugmaker
AstraZeneca AZN.L AZN.O said it would buy the U.S. biotech
firm. AstraZeneca's U.S.-listed shares dropped 8%. Walt Disney fell after BMO Capital Markets downgraded the
stock following its recent gains and said Netflix NFLX.O was
again its "top pick." Netflix climbed almost 4%.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI fell 0.48% to end at
29,900.96 points, while the S&P 500 .SPX lost 0.32% to
3,651.92. The Nasdaq Composite .IXIC climbed 0.61% to
12,453.96.
Also on Monday, negotiators in the U.S. Congress neared
agreement on a massive government spending deal that would avert
a government shutdown, as Republicans and Democrats insisted
they want to pass a fresh round of aid to a coronavirus-hit
nation. Investors continued to focus on early voting in a pair of
U.S. Senate races in Georgia that will determine control of the
chamber and heavily influence lawmaking. E-commerce company Alibaba Group Holding Ltd BABA.N dipped
after China warned its internet majors of more anti-trust
scrutiny, imposed fines and announced probes into deals
involving Alibaba and Tencent Holdings Ltd 0700.HK .
Electric-car maker Tesla Inc TSLA.O rallied almost 5% as
anticipation of its addition to the S&P 500 benchmark next week
offset a report of production delays. Volume on U.S. exchanges was 10.4 billion shares, compared
with the 11.5 billion average for the full session over the last
20 trading days.
Declining issues outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE by a
1.36-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.08-to-1 ratio favored advancers.
The S&P 500 posted 25 new 52-week highs and no new lows; the
Nasdaq Composite recorded 211 new highs and 15 new lows.