US STOCKS-Wall St ends lower on COVID-19 worries, tech weighs

(Updates with market close)
* Twitter falls as accounts of top voices hacked on its
platform
* Bank of America slips as profit halves in Q2
* American Airlines says air travel demand slowing again

By Noel Randewich
July 16 (Reuters) - The S&P 500 ended down on Thursday,
pulled lower by Microsoft Corp MSFT.O and Apple Inc AAPL.O ,
as elevated levels of unemployment claims heightened concerns
about the economic toll from rising coronavirus cases.
U.S. retail sales increased more than expected in June, but
a resurgence in new COVID-19 cases is undercutting the budding
recovery, keeping 32 million Americans on unemployment benefits.
A jump in cases of the virus has forced California and other
states to shut down again, sparking fears of more business
damage and slowing the pace of a Wall Street rally. The S&P 500
is about 5% below its February record high.
"The economic data shows there is still a challenge going
forward," said Willie Delwiche, an investment strategist at
Baird in Milwaukee. "Congress better get its act together and
pass another fiscal stimulus."
The S&P real estate .SPLRCR and technology .SPLRCT
indexes fell more than others.
Apple and Microsoft dipped, each weighing more than any
other company on the S&P 500.
"This is an early indication of good signs that money is now
flowing away from completely overbought Nasdaq into those names
that will bode well when the economy starts finding more of a
solid footing," said Andrew Smith, chief investment strategist
at Dallas, Texas-based Delos Capital Advisors.
Twitter Inc TWTR.N fell after hackers accessed its
internal systems to hijack some of the platform's top voices,
including U.S. presidential candidate Joe Biden, reality TV star
Kim Kardashian West, former U.S. President Barack Obama and
billionaire Elon Musk and used them to solicit digital currency.
Shares of Netflix NFLX.O rose ahead of the streaming video
company's quarterly report after the bell, which will show
investors how it has fared during the coronavirus lockdown.
Unofficially, the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI fell
0.5% to end at 26,734.64 points, while the S&P 500 .SPX lost
0.34% to 3,215.59.
The Nasdaq Composite .IXIC dropped 0.73%, to 10,473.83.
Rounding up earnings reports of big banks, Bank of America
Corp BAC.N fell after its second-quarter profit more than
halved, while Morgan Stanley MS.N rose after posting a record
quarterly profit. American Airlines AAL.O tumbled after it sent 25,000
notices of potential furloughs to frontline workers and warned
that demand for air travel is slowing again.
Tesla Inc TSLA.O declined after its vehicle registrations
nearly halved in the U.S. state of California during the second
quarter, according to data from a marketing research firm.