US STOCKS-Wall St drops after strong rally as COVID-19 cases mount

(For a live blog on the U.S. stock market, click LIVE/ or
type LIVE/ in a news window.)
* Novavax jumps on $1.6 bln govt award for COVID-19 vaccine
* Walmart gains after report of membership program
* Indexes: Dow down 1.5%, S&P 500 down 1.1%, Nasdaq down
0.9%

(Updates close with volume, other details)
By Caroline Valetkevitch
July 7 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks fell on Tuesday, adding to
losses into the close, as investors took profits a day after the
S&P 500 logged its longest streak of gains this year and as new
U.S. coronavirus cases rose further.
Large parts of the United States reported tens of thousands
of new coronavirus infections. New York expanded its travel
quarantine for visitors from three more states, while Florida's
greater Miami area rolled back its reopening.
"It's a little bit of a pullback after a significant
five-day move in the market coupled with the normal concerns
about the virus and (Cleveland Federal Reserve Bank President
Loretta) Mester talking about a long road to recovery," said
Michael Antonelli, market strategist at Baird in Milwaukee.
Mester said during an interview with CNBC that a resurgence
in coronavirus cases across the country is making consumers more
cautious, and more fiscal stimulus is needed to help the economy
recover fully from the crisis. U.S. stocks have risen recently, with the S&P 500
registering a fifth straight session of gains on Monday, despite
rising new coronavirus cases in the United States as a slew of
upbeat data for June bolstered views that an economic recovery
is under way.
The Nasdaq claimed another record intraday high and held
gains for a good part of the session before ending the day
lower.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI fell 396.85 points,
or 1.51%, to 25,890.18, the S&P 500 .SPX lost 34.4 points, or
1.08%, to 3,145.32 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC dropped
89.76 points, or 0.86%, to 10,343.89.
"It's healthy to have some pullbacks. Even a more dramatic
pullback would be good, just because I think there's a lot of
uncertainty and it's kind of advanced on a wall of worry here,"
said Alan Lancz, president, Alan B. Lancz & Associates Inc, an
investment advisory firm, based in Toledo, Ohio.
"There's probably more profit-taking and volatility in store
on the down side after the incredible rebound from the March
lows," he said.
The S&P 500 is still up more than 40% from its March closing
low.
Walmart Inc WMT.N gained 6.8% after a report that the
retailer is close to launching its membership program, a direct
competitor for Amazon.com's AMZN.O Prime service. Amazon
shares slipped 1.3%. Novavax Inc NVAX.O jumped 31.6% as the U.S. government
awarded $1.6 billion to the drugmaker to cover testing,
commercialization and manufacturing of a potential coronavirus
vaccine in the country. Earlier Tuesday, the S&P 500 e-minis EScv1 triggered a
"golden cross" pattern, when the 50-day moving average crossed
above the 200-day moving average, which could portend more gains
for stocks in the short term.
Declining issues outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE by a
2.73-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 2.63-to-1 ratio favored decliners.
The S&P 500 posted 32 new 52-week highs and no new lows; the
Nasdaq Composite recorded 83 new highs and 15 new lows.
Volume on U.S. exchanges was 10.44 billion shares, compared
with the 12.58 billion average for the full session over the
last 20 trading days.