US STOCKS-Wall Street oscillates amid COVID-19 spikes, muted data

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* Weekly jobless claims higher than expected
* Carnival Corp falls after record loss, write-downs
* Spotify rises on podcast deal with Warner Bros
* Indexes mixed: Dow dips 0.52%, S&P off 0.27%, Nasdaq flat

(Updates to late afternoon, changes dateline, byline)
By Stephen Culp
NEW YORK, June 18 (Reuters) - Wall Street struggled for
direction on Thursday as investors weighed a resurgence in
coronavirus infections and the possibility of a new round of
shutdowns against data that suggested the U.S. economy might not
bounce back with quick, V-shaped recovery.
A range-bound S&P 500 see-sawed through much of the session
and was last in negative territory, joining the blue-chip Dow in
the red.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq was essentially flat.
"It's not unusual after huge moves to trade sidewise," said
Chuck Carlson, chief executive officer at Horizon Investment
Services in Hammond, Indiana. "It's a continuing evaluation of
the sustainability of improvement at these rapid levels."
"(Investors) don't want to sell and they don't want to buy,
so you have days like this," Carlson added.
Initial jobless claims declined slightly last week to a
still-bruising 1.51 million, according to the Labor Department.
The number was worse than consensus, and continuing claims
remain stubbornly high at 20.54 million, suggesting the labor
market has a long road to recovery. While several U.S. states have reported surges in new
COVID-19 cases after re-opening their economies, President
Donald Trump insisted the United States would not enact a new
round of restrictions to curb the pandemic's spread.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI fell 136.7 points,
or 0.52%, to 25,982.91, the S&P 500 .SPX lost 8.39 points, or
0.27%, to 3,105.1 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC added 0.09
points, or 0%, to 9,910.63.
Of 11 major sectors of the S&P 500, five were in positive
territory, with energy .SPNY and consumer staples .SPLRCS
seeing the largest percentage gains.
Real estate .SPLRCR was the clear laggard.
Grocery chain Kroger Co KR.N beat quarterly earnings
estimates and said it expects to exceed its 2020 same-store
sales outlook. But the company did not reaffirm or provide new
2020 forecasts, and its shares fell 5.4%. Shares of Spotify Technology SA SPOT.N jumped 13.8% after
the music streaming company inked a deal with AT&T Inc's T.N
Warner Brothers and DC Entertainment to add popular DC Comics
character podcasts to its library. Cruise operator Carnival Corp CCL.N fell 2.8% after
reporting a record $4.4 billion quarterly loss after
pandemic-related write-downs. Biogen Inc BIIB.O dropped 7.6% after a U.S. district court
ruled in favor of generic drugmaker Mylan NV MYL.O in a patent
dispute. Mylan NV rose 2.2%. Industrial services provider Team Inc TISI.N plunged 17.1%
after missing quarterly earnings estimates amid falling demand.
Declining issues outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE by a
1.23-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.10-to-1 ratio favored advancers.
The S&P 500 posted five new 52-week highs and no new lows;
the Nasdaq Composite recorded 72 new highs and four new lows.