US STOCKS-S&P 500, Dow slip as labor market recovery falters

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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: Dow down 0.41%, S&P off 0.13%, Nasdaq up 0.55%

(Updates to early afternoon)
By Sruthi Shankar and Shivani Kumaresan
Nov 19 (Reuters) - The S&P 500 and the Dow edged lower on
Thursday as new coronavirus restrictions and an unexpected rise
in weekly jobless claims raised fears of stalling economic
growth in the absence of new stimulus measures.
The report from the Labor Department, the most timely data
on the economy's health, also showed at least 20.3 million
people on unemployment benefits at the end of October, seven
months after the pandemic hit the United States. "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 economic damage
inflicted by tightening business restrictions as COVID-19 cases
continue to climb.
New York City's public school system, the nation's largest,
stopped in-classroom instruction from Thursday, as the U.S.
death toll from COVID-19 passed a grim milestone of 250,000.
"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 12:05 p.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI
was down 0.41% and the S&P 500 .SPX was down 0.13%.
The Nasdaq Composite .IXIC gained 0.55%, with technology
mega-caps Tesla Inc TSLA.O , Alphabet Inc GOOGL.O and
Amazon.com Inc AMZN.O rising between 0.4% and 3.1%.
Value stocks .IVX , which include banks and industrials,
slipped 0.6%, while growth-linked stocks .IGX , which are
perceived to be less risky, logged small gains.
The Dow Jones transportation .DJT and industrials
.DJUSIN indexes shed 0.9% and 0.2%, respectively, after each
hit an all-time high on Wednesday.
L Brands Inc LB.N surged 14.5% after posting
better-than-expected quarterly results, helped by record sales
growth at Bath & Body Works and higher demand for Victoria's
Secret lingerie. Nvidia Corp NVDA.O slipped 1.2% after company executives
said data center chip sales would fall slightly in the fourth
quarter. Declining issues outnumbered advancers 1.25-to-1 on the
NYSE; on the Nasdaq, advancers matched decliners.
The S&P index recorded two new 52-week highs and no new low,
while the Nasdaq recorded 64 new highs and six new lows.