US STOCKS-S&P 500 gains on hopes of lockdown easing; Boeing, Intel weigh on Dow

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* House clears latest $500 billion relief bill
* U.S. core capital goods March orders show surprise rise
* AmEx builds up reserves to cover potential loan defaults
* Indexes mixed: Dow off 0.03%, S&P 500 up 0.14%, Nasdaq up
0.12%

(Updates to open)
By C Nivedita and Shreyashi Sanyal
April 24 (Reuters) - The S&P 500 edged higher in choppy
trading on Friday as some states prepared to relax curbs imposed
to contain the coronavirus outbreak, but declines in Intel and
Boeing weighed on the blue-chip Dow Jones.
Boeing Co BA.N fell 4.3% after a report said the
planemaker was planning to cut 787 Dreamliner output by about
half, while chipmaker Intel Corp INTC.O shed 3.1% as it
forecast second-quarter profit below estimates and said it could
not issue an outlook for the full year. Six of the 11 S&P 500 sector indexes were trading higher,
but the energy index .SPNY lost 0.1% as oil prices headed for
their third straight weekly loss after a historic collapse on
Monday. O/R
From Tennessee and Texas to Ohio and Montana, governors
announced plans to swiftly allow a return to business for some
workplaces on signs the pandemic was peaking in some of the
worst hit parts of the country. "We are past the peak and slowly, but surely, all the states
that have not had major cases will gradually re-open, and the
market is taking that as a signal that demand is going to come
back," said Thomas Hayes, managing member at Great Hill Capital
LLC in New York.
Early sentiment was also supported by the latest $500
billion relief package that cleared the U.S. House of
Representatives the previous day. The bill is with President
Donald Trump, who is expected to sign it into law. The benchmark S&P 500 .SPX is still 17% below its record
high despite gaining ground this month, and investors fear a
deep economic slump following a crash in business activity.
Overall, analysts expect a 14.1% decline in S&P 500
first-quarter earnings, with profits for the energy sector
estimated to slump nearly 60%, raising fears of debt defaults,
layoffs and possible bankruptcies. On Friday, however, data showed orders for non-defense
capital goods excluding aircraft, a closely watched proxy for
business spending plans, edged up 0.1% last month, compared with
economists' expectations of a 6% plunge. "Maybe it does tell us that the potential for recovery is
slightly better than what was anticipated," said Seema Shah,
chief strategist at Principal Global Investors in London.
The CBOE volatility index .VIX , known as Wall Street's
fear gauge, was down for the third straight session.
At 10:31 a.m. ET the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI was
down 5.91 points, or 0.03%, at 23,509.35, the S&P 500 .SPX was
up 3.89 points, or 0.14%, at 2,801.69 and the Nasdaq Composite
.IXIC was up 10.43 points, or 0.12%, at 8,505.18.
Verizon Communications Inc VZ.N inched lower as it lost
68,000 phone subscribers who pay a monthly bill in the first
quarter. American Express Co AXP.N fell 0.4% after posting a 76%
drop in first-quarter profit as the credit card issuer braced
for potential losses stemming from the coronavirus outbreak.
Declining issues almost matched advancers on the NYSE and
the Nasdaq.
The S&P index recorded one new 52-week highs and no new low,
while the Nasdaq recorded 18 new highs and six new lows.