* Apple slips despite strong quarterly results
* Communication services leads gains among S&P 500 sectors
* U.S. economy accelerates in Q1; jobless claims edge lower
* Indexes: Dow up 0.12%, S&P up 0.12%, Nasdaq down 0.38%
(Updates prices to early afternoon)
By Shivani Kumaresan and Shreyashi Sanyal
April 29 (Reuters) - The S&P 500 hovered near record highs
on Thursday, helped by gains in Facebook and upbeat economic
data, while the Nasdaq eased as investors locked in profits from
certain megacap technology firms.
Seven of the 11 major S&P 500 sectors were trading higher,
with communication services stocks .SPLRCL leading gains.
Facebook Inc FB.O jumped 5.8% to an all-time high after
beating market expectations for quarterly revenue and profit,
helped by a surge in digital ad spending during the pandemic and
higher ad prices. Apple Inc AAPL.O , however, slipped 0.5% despite posting
sales and profit ahead of Wall Street estimates on strong iPhone
and Mac sales. Shares of other high-flying stocks including Microsoft Corp
MSFT.O , Tesla Inc TSLA.O and Amazon.com Inc AMZN.O fell
between 0.1% and 3.3%.
"Apple and Microsoft both had high expectations... while
they did exceed consensus estimates, a lot of it was priced in,
so there is some profit taking coming in," said Thomas Hayes,
chairman of Great Hill Capital.
Of the 265 companies in the S&P 500 that have reported so
far, 86.8% have topped analysts' earnings estimates, with
Refinitiv IBES data now predicting a 44.7% jump in profit
growth.
The S&P 500 .SPX and the Nasdaq .IXIC indexes had
touched record highs earlier in the session.
"The market seems to be weaning just a little bit, we have
seen stocks coming off their opening highs," said Paul Nolte,
portfolio manager at Kingsview Asset Management in Chicago.
"We are seeing investors question now 'can the momentum
continue' and at least for today it looks like not really."
Meanwhile, U.S. economic growth accelerated in the first
quarter, fueled by massive government aid to households and
businesses, while a labor market report showed 553,000 people
filed for unemployment benefits last week, compared with 566,000
in the prior period.
More earnings reports from Dow components rolled in, with
Caterpillar Inc CAT.N falling 3.1% after warning of
supply-chain bottlenecks. Drugmaker Merck & Co Inc MRK.N slid
5.1% after posting a drop in quarterly profit. Global shares extended gains after the Federal Reserve said
it was too early to consider rolling back emergency support for
the economy, while U.S. President Joe Biden proposed a $1.8
trillion stimulus package. At 12:40 p.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI
was up 39.06 points, or 0.12%, at 33,859.44, the S&P 500 .SPX
was up 4.99 points, or 0.12%, at 4,188.17 and the Nasdaq
Composite .IXIC was down 52.91 points, or 0.38%, at 13,998.12.
McDonald's Corp MCD.N rose 0.8% after beating Wall Street
estimates for comparable sales and returning to pre-pandemic
levels of growth. Amazon.com, Twitter Inc TWTR.N and Gilead Sciences Inc
GILD.O are set to report their earnings later in the day.
Declining issues outnumbered advancers for a 1.37-to-1 ratio
on the NYSE and for a 1.74-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P index recorded 104 new 52-week highs and no new low,
while the Nasdaq recorded 130 new highs and 18 new lows.