US STOCKS-S&P, Nasdaq close higher as stimulus talks in spotlight

* Intel slumps as quarterly margins fall
* American Express drops as profit falls short of estimates

(Updates to close, adds volume, weekly closing percentages for
the indexes)
By Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss
NEW YORK, Oct 23 (Reuters) - The S&P 500 and Nasdaq closed
modestly higher on Friday in choppy trading, with investors
keeping a close eye on negotiations on a U.S. stimulus package
that would ease the economic shock caused by the coronavirus
pandemic.
The Dow ended lower on the day, moving within tight ranges.
Uncertainty over the timeline of the relief legislation has
been weighing on Wall Street's major indexes in recent sessions,
with all three indexes posting declines for the week.
U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said it still was possible
to get another round of COVID-19 aid before the Nov. 3 election,
but that it was up to President Donald Trump to act, including
talking to reluctant Senate Republicans, if he wants it.
Trump and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin countered that
Pelosi must compromise to get an aid package, saying significant
differences remained between the Republican administration and
Democrats.
Still the market believes a stimulus deal is going to get
done: The only question would be size and timing, analysts said.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI closed 28.09 points
lower, or 0.1%, to 28,335.57, the S&P 500 .SPX gained 11.9
points, or 0.34%, to 3,465.39 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC
added 42.28 points, or 0.37%, to 11,548.28.
The communication services sector .SPLRCL rose 1.1%, the
highest gainer among the major S&P sectors.
"This has been a stimulus-driven market for several weeks --
today is more evidence of that," said Lindsey Bell, chief
investment strategist at Ally Invest, in Charlotte, North
Carolina.
"The market believes we are getting a stimulus. But it wants
to know when it's going to pass because it's going to take time
for the money to flow out," she added.
Meanwhile, a record 50 million Americans cast ballots,
eclipsing total early voting from the 2016 election.
Trump and Democratic rival Joe Biden debated on Thursday for
the last time to persuade the few remaining undecided voters 11
days before their contest, but while the debate was more toned
down and substantive, it hardly moved the needle.
Trump still trailed former vice president Biden in national
polls after the debate, although the contest is much tighter in
some battleground states where the election will likely be
decided.
A sharp 10% fall in chipmaker Intel Corp INTC.O after it
reported a drop in margins earlier weighed on the market.
Intel's results were pressured as consumers bought cheaper
laptops and pandemic-stricken businesses and governments clamped
down on data center spending. The third-quarter earnings season, meanwhile, chugged along,
with about 84% of the 135 S&P 500 companies that have reported
so far topping quarterly profit estimates, according to
Refinitiv data.
Next week's focus will be on results from Big Tech companies
Apple Inc AAPL.O , Facebook Inc FB.O , Amazon.com Inc AMZN.O
and Google-parent Alphabet GOOGL.O .
Gilead Sciences Inc GILD.O rose 0.2% as its antiviral drug
remdesivir became the first and only drug approved for treating
patients hospitalized with COVID-19 in the United States.
American Express Co AXP.N fell 3.6% as it missed estimates
for third-quarter profit after its customers spent less during
the COVID-19 fueled economic slowdown and it set aside money for
potential payment defaults. For the week, the Dow ended down 0.9%, the S&P 500 fell 0.5%
and Nasdaq declined 1.1%.
Volume on U.S exchanges was 7.79 billion shares, compared
with the nearly 9 billion average for the full session over the
last 20 trading days.