US STOCKS-Wall Street closes higher on U.S. fiscal stimulus bets

* U.S. House Speaker Pelosi reports progress on stimulus
talks
* Weekly jobless claims dip below 800,000, but remain
elevated
* Tesla rises after fifth straight quarterly profit
* Coca-Cola up after results beat forecasts

(New throughout, updates prices, market activity and comments
to close)
By Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss
NEW YORK, Oct 22 (Reuters) - Shares on Wall Street ended
higher on Thursday in choppy trading, as investors cheered the
prospect of more fiscal stimulus to support a pandemic-damaged
U.S. economy, with more data pointing to a slowing labor market
recovery.
Trading on Wall Street this week has been driven by a flurry
of reports related to developments in the stimulus talks.
U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi reported
progress in talks with the Trump administration for another
round of financial aid and said legislation could be hammered
out "pretty soon". However, White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow cautioned
"significant policy differences" remained, which were unlikely
to be resolved before the Nov. 3 election.
"These stimulus rumors continue to swirl," said Mike
Zigmont, head of trading at Harvest Volatility Management. "But
I think the market is getting accustomed to these rumors and
each new rumor has less of an impact than it used to."
He was also not confident that another stimulus deal would
pave the way for another bullish trend in stocks.
"The second stimulus as a topic has been kicking around for
so long. The bulk of the economic consequences has already been
baked into stock prices," Zigmont said.
"And now it is strictly an emotional issue, a
perception-in-the market type of issue."
Pelosi and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin have been
negotiating a relief bill near the $2 trillion mark, a sum
opposed by Senate Republicans who have expressed concern about
the federal deficit.
Also on Thursday, data showed the number of Americans filing
for state unemployment benefits last week dropped more than
expected to 787,000, but remained stubbornly high as support
from fiscal stimulus faded. Unofficially, the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI rose
149.85 points, or 0.53%, to 28,360.67, the S&P 500 .SPX gained
16.74 points, or 0.49%, to 3,452.3 and the Nasdaq Composite
.IXIC added 13.58 points, or 0.12%, to 11,498.27.
Energy .SPNY and financials .SPSY rose, posting the
steepest gains among the major S&P sectors.
Investors will monitor the final presidential debate on
Thursday night between Trump and Democratic challenger Joe Biden
who is ahead in national polls. Meanwhile, about a fifth of S&P 500 companies have reported
third-quarter results, of which 84.1% beat earnings estimates,
according to IBES Refinitiv data.
Tesla Inc TSLA.O climbed after the electric-car maker
reported its fifth consecutive quarterly profit on record
revenue of $8.8 billion. Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc CMG.N fell as it posted a drop
in quarterly profit, hurt by higher beef prices, delivery costs
and coronavirus-related expenses. Among blue-chip companies, Coca-Cola Co KO.N gained as it
beat quarterly results expectations, while chemicals maker Dow
Inc DOW.N fell 0.6% even as it surpassed quarterly profit
estimates.