US STOCKS-S&P 500, Nasdaq retreat as business activity dips

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* Nike hits record high after stellar quarter
* Travel-related stocks rebound
* Tesla tumbles as "Battery Day" disappoints
* Indexes: Dow up 0.26%, S&P off 0.07%, Nasdaq down 0.42%

(Updates to open)
By Sagarika Jaisinghani and Devik Jain
Sept 23 (Reuters) - The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq retreated on
Wednesday as data showed domestic business activity nudged down
in September, while a record high for Nike following a strong
quarterly earnings report boosted the blue-chip Dow.
Data from IHS Markit showed gains at factories were offset
by a retreat at services industries in September, suggesting a
loss of momentum in the economy as the third quarter draws to a
close. Bets of a stable economic rebound from a pandemic-driven
recession, combined with historic fiscal and monetary stimulus,
had driven a rally in the three main U.S. stock indexes since
March.
However, doubts over the next coronavirus relief bill as
well as a selloff in heavyweight technology-related stocks have
weighed on investor sentiment this month, with Wall Street
favorites including Facebook Inc FB.O , Apple Inc AAPL.O and
Amazon.com Inc AMZN.O bearing the brunt of the losses.
"It's just this constant push-and-pull in the face of
uncertainty where we're waiting on information about the
election, earnings and stimulus," said Thomas Hayes, managing
member at Great Hill Capital LLC in New York.
Seven of the 11 major S&P indexes were down in morning
trading, with energy .SPNY leading declines. Industrial stocks
.SPLRCI were among the biggest gainers.
At 10:03 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI
was up 70.47 points, or 0.26%, at 27,358.65. The S&P 500 .SPX ,
however, was down 2.26 points, or 0.07%, at 3,313.31, while the
Nasdaq Composite .IXIC was down 46.23 points, or 0.42%, at
10,917.41.
"When the Dow outperforms the Nasdaq, it's telling you that
the market believes the reopening (and) vaccines are on track,
and that's going to help the type of large industrial stocks,"
Hayes said.
Nike Inc NKE.N surged 9.7% to a record high as its digital
sales, especially in North America, helped offset a fall in
sales at traditional brick-and-mortar stores. Tesla Inc TSLA.O , another Wall Street darling this year,
tumbled 5.4% after Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk failed to
impress with his promise to cut electric vehicle costs at the
much awaited "Battery Day" event on Tuesday. Oracle Corp ORCL.N fell 1% after a report by a
state-backed Chinese newspaper said Beijing was unlikely to
approve a proposed deal by the software maker and Walmart
WMT.N for ByteDance's TikTok. Travel-related stocks including Delta Air Lines DAL.N ,
American Airlines AAL.O , Carnival Corp CCL.N and Royal
Caribbean Cruises RCL.N rose more than 1% after being hammered
earlier this week.
Johnson & Johnson JNJ.N gained 1.3% after kicking off a
final 60,000-person trial of a single-shot COVID-19 vaccine that
potentially would simplify distribution of millions of doses,
compared with leading rivals using two doses.
Advancing issues nearly matched decliners on the NYSE and
the Nasdaq.
The S&P index recorded three new 52-week highs and no new
low, while the Nasdaq recorded 23 new highs and 10 new lows.