US STOCKS-S&P 500 hovers at record levels as jobless claims fall

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* Weekly unemployment claims fall below 1 million
* S&P 500 about 0.3% away from February intraday record high
* Cisco weighs on Dow following weak outlook
* Dow down 0.14%, S&P up 0.09%, Nasdaq rises 0.84%

(Updates to early afternoon)
By Ambar Warrick and Medha Singh
Aug 13 (Reuters) - Apple pushed the S&P 500 and Nasdaq
higher on Thursday, with the benchmark index nearing an all-time
high, as jobless claims fell below one million for the first
time since efforts to curb the COVID-19 outbreak in the United
States began five months ago.
The S&P 500 briefly traded above its record closing high of
3,386.15 and was 0.3% away from its intraday record high of
3,393.52 registered in February.
The blue-chip Dow was weighed down by a 11.3 slump in Cisco
Systems Inc CSCO.O after the company forecast first-quarter
revenue and profit below estimates. Apple Inc AAPL.O rose 2.4% to about $463.09, less than $5
a share shy of hitting $2 trillion in market capitalization.
Initial claims for state unemployment benefits decreased to
963,000 for the week ended Aug. 8, the lowest level since
mid-March but the expiration of a $600 weekly jobless supplement
at the end of July likely contributed to the
decline. Data last week showed the economy has regained only 9.3
million jobs of the 22 million jobs lost between February and
April, indicating that it faces a long road to reach
pre-pandemic levels.
But Wall Street has recovered most of the trillions in
market capitalization lost during the start of the pandemic and
the tech-heavy Nasdaq .IXIC was the first of the three major
indexes to hit a record high in June. The Dow is about 5.6%
below its February peak.
"Our take on a new high, if it happens, is that it's another
reminder to investors how disconnected the stock market and the
economy have been this year. The stocks have soared but economy
– it's improved, yes – but a million initial claims is still not
good," said Ryan Detrick, senior market strategist at LPL
Financial in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Meanwhile, markets continued to hold on to hopes the
Democrats and the White House would reach an agreement for a
stimulus to help the economy recover. Unemployment benefits have
been a sticking point in their talks.
The U.S. presidential election is also expected to add
another layer of uncertainty into markets, with roughly 12 weeks
remaining until Election Day.
At 13:06 p.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI
was down 37.90 points, or 0.14%, at 27,938.94 and the S&P 500
.SPX was up 2.99 points, or 0.09%, at 3,383.34. The Nasdaq
Composite .IXIC was up 92.37 points, or 0.84%, at 11,104.61.
Consumer discretionary .SPLRCD , technology .SPLRCT and
communication services .SPLRCL were among the few advancing
S&P sectors.
"The fact that interest rates are so low, people really have
no place to put money," said Kevin Miller, chief investment
officer of Minnesota-based E-Valuator Funds.
"A lot of the larger companies that make up the S&P 500 have
a heavy cash position, they really have strong free cash flow,
so it's a magnet for investor dollars."
AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc AMC.N jumped 17% after the
firm said it will start its first phase of reopening theaters in
the United States from Aug. 20, covering more than 100 venues.
Tapestry Inc TPR.N fell 2.6% even as it beat quarterly
sales estimates. Declining issues outnumbered advancers for a 1.07-to-1 ratio
on the NYSE. Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a
1.01-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P index recorded 13 new 52-week highs and no new low,
while the Nasdaq recorded 53 new highs and 16 new lows.