US STOCKS-S&P 500, Dow extend longest losing spree in a year

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* U.S. coronavirus cases top 7 million
* Costco Wholesale drops on high COVID-19 costs
* Tech-related stocks set to climb again
* Indexes: Dow off 0.15%, S&P down 0.05%, Nasdaq up 0.24%

(Updates to open)
By Devik Jain
Sept 25 (Reuters) - The S&P 500 and the Dow inched lower on
Friday, extending their longest losing spree in a year as fears
about the outlook for the economy in a future still dominated by
the coronavirus weighed on investor sentiment.
Five of the 11 major S&P indexes fell in early trading, with
a 0.7% drop for energy stocks .SPNY putting them on course for
one of their worst weeks since the coronavirus-driven crash in
March.
The defensive real estate sector .SPLRCR led gains among
those trading higher.
A clutch of mixed macroeconomic data has weighed on Wall
Street in recent weeks, overshadowing signs of progress on
Congressional stimulus that, analysts say, is needed to sustain
an economic recovery. "There's evidence of a slowdown in the United States, which
we think is temporary, but it would be reinforced if there is no
additional fiscal package," said Sebastien Galy, senior macro
strategist at Nordea Asset Management in Luxembourg.
The S&P 500 is on course for its fourth straight weekly
decline - its longest losing streak since August 2019 - and is
hovering just above correction territory with investors
oscillating between beaten-down technology-related shares and
value-linked sectors such as industrials.
At 10:07 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI
was down 39.09 points, or 0.15%, at 26,776.35, and the S&P 500
.SPX was down 1.50 points, or 0.05%, at 3,245.09.
The Nasdaq Composite .IXIC was up 25.38 points, or 0.24%,
at 10,697.65, propped up by a 1% jump in Apple Inc AAPL.O .
Shares of tech mega-caps including Amazon.com Inc AMZN.O
and Microsoft Corp MSFT.O , which are perceived as relatively
safe assets at a time of economic uncertainty, also inched
higher.
The S&P industrials sector .SPLRCI added 0.2% as data
showed new orders for key U.S.-made capital goods increased more
than expected in August. Analysts warned the CBOE volatility index .VIX , known as
Wall Street's fear gauge, could climb higher toward the end of
the quarter next week as well as the Nov. 3 presidential
election.
Costco Wholesale Corp COST.O fell 2.6% as the warehouse
chain recorded high coronavirus-related costs for the second
straight quarter. Boeing Co BA.N gained 2.4% after Europe's chief aviation
safety regulator said the planemaker's grounded 737 MAX could
receive regulatory approval to resume flying in November and
enter service by the end of the year. Novavax Inc NVAX.O jumped 9.8% after the drugmaker
launched a late-stage trial of its experimental COVID-19 vaccine
in the UK. Advancing issues nearly matched decliners on the NYSE and
outnumbered them 1.68-to-1 on the Nasdaq.
The S&P index recorded no new 52-week high or low, while the
Nasdaq recorded seven new highs and 23 new lows.