US STOCKS-Wall St retreats on surging COVID-19 cases, rise in jobless claims

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* Weekly jobless claims unexpectedly rise
* U.S. COVID-19 death toll crosses 250,000
* Macy's drops after posting lower comparable sales
* Indexes off: Dow 0.43%, S&P 0.39%, Nasdaq 0.15%

(Updates to open)
By Sruthi Shankar and Shivani Kumaresan
Nov 19 (Reuters) - Wall Street's main indexes edged lower on
Thursday as soaring coronavirus cases and an unexpected rise in
weekly jobless claims raised fears of stalling growth in the
world's largest economy.
Initial claims for state unemployment benefits totaled a
seasonally adjusted 742,000 for the week ended Nov. 14, compared
with 711,000 in the prior week, the Labor Department said.
Economists polled by Reuters had forecast 707,000 applications.
"What was a decline in jobless claims numbers for the last
couple of months has suddenly reversed course, so that only
plays into the current theme of the economy getting worse," said
Kenny Polcari, managing partner at Kace Capital Advisors in
Florida.
The S&P 500 index .SPX was set for its third straight
session of losses, retreating further from its record closing
high hit on Monday following positive data on a coronavirus
vaccine.
Investors have also become wary of the near-term damage
caused by tightening business restrictions as COVID-19 cases
continue to climb and in the absence of fresh stimulus measures.
"Stimulus will be the key," said Joe Saluzzi, co-manager of
trading at Themis Trading in New Jersey.
"Even a smaller package, half a trillion, will be well
received and that's the right trick to keep certain businesses
open and keep people paying their rent before the vaccine starts
coming in."
Market participants are now looking to the Federal Reserve
for signs it could step in with fresh monetary stimulus.
At 9:37 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI was
down 125.41 points, or 0.43%, at 29,313.01, the S&P 500 .SPX
was down 13.88 points, or 0.39%, at 3,553.91, and the Nasdaq
Composite .IXIC was down 18.00 points, or 0.15%, at 11,783.61.
All of the 11 major S&P indexes were down, led by the energy
.SPNY and financial .SPSY sectors.
Value stocks .IVX , which include banks and industrials,
slipped 0.5% as investors preferred the relative safety of
growth-linked sectors .IGX such as technology.
L Brands Inc LB.N surged 13.1% after posting
better-than-expected quarterly results, helped by record sales
growth at Bath & Body Works and higher demand for Victoria's
Secret lingerie. Department store operator Macy's Inc M.N fell 7.7% after
it reported a more than 20% fall in third-quarter comparable
sales. Nvidia Corp NVDA.O slipped 0.7% after company executives
said data center chip sales would fall slightly in the fourth
quarter. Declining issues outnumbered advancers 1.69-to-1 on the NYSE
and 1.03-to-1 on the Nasdaq.
The S&P index recorded one new 52-week high and no new low,
while the Nasdaq recorded 20 new highs and three new lows.