(Updates with market closure)
* Twitter drops as accounts of the main hacked voices on its platform
* Bank of America falls as profit halves in the second quarter
* American Airlines says demand for air travel slows again
By Noel Randewich
July 16 (Reuters) – The S&P 500 ended Thursday, downgraded by Microsoft Corp and Apple Inc, as high levels of unemployment claims raised concerns about the economic cost of growing coronavirus cases.
US retail sales rose more than expected in June, but a resurgence in new COVID-19 cases is undermining the fledgling recovery, keeping 32 million Americans on unemployment benefits.
A jump in the virus cases has forced California and other states to close again, raising fears of further damage to businesses and slowing the pace of a Wall Street rally. The S&P 500 is approximately 5% below its February high.
“The economic data shows that there is still a challenge ahead,” said Willie Delwiche, Baird’s investment strategist in Milwaukee. “It is better for Congress to act together and pass another fiscal stimulus.”
S & P’s real estate and technology indices fell more than others.
Apple and Microsoft went under, each weighing more than any other company in the S&P 500.
“This is an early indication of good signs that money is now flowing from Nasdaq completely overbought to those names that will bode well as the economy begins to find a more solid foundation,” said Andrew Smith, chief investment strategist at Dallas, Texas. Based on Delos Capital Advisors.
Twitter Inc fell after hackers accessed its internal systems to hijack some of the platform’s leading voices, including US presidential candidate Joe Biden, reality TV star Kim Kardashian West, former US President Barack Obama, and the Billionaire Elon Musk and used them to apply for digital currency.
Netflix shares rose ahead of the video streaming company’s quarterly report after the bell, which will show investors how it fared during the coronavirus crash.
Unofficially, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.5% to end at 26,734.64 points, while the S&P 500 lost 0.34% to 3,215.59.
The Nasdaq compound fell 0.73% to 10,473.83.
Rounding off the earnings reports of the big banks, Bank of America Corp fell more than half after its second-quarter earnings, while Morgan Stanley rose after posting record quarterly earnings.
American Airlines collapsed after sending 25,000 possible license notices to frontline workers and warned that demand for air travel is slowing again.
Tesla Inc. declined after its vehicle registrations nearly halved in the U.S. state of California in the second quarter, according to data from a market research firm. (Additional report by Medha Singh and Devik Jain in Bengaluru Edited by Marguerita Choy)
