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* Five-week tally of jobless claims tops 30 million
* Apple, Amazon report results after the bell
* Facebook jumps after upbeat quarterly revenue
* Indexes down: Dow 1.17%, S&P 500 0.92%, Nasdaq 0.28%
(Updates to market close)
By Stephen Culp
NEW YORK, April 30 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks lost ground on
Thursday as grim economic data and mixed earnings prompted
investors to take profits at the close of the S&P 500's best
month in 33 years, a remarkable run driven by expectations the
economy will soon start recovering from crushing restrictions
enacted to curb the coronavirus pandemic.
While risk-off selling pulled all three major U.S. stock
averages into the red, the S&P 500 and the Dow posted their
largest monthly percentage gains since January 1987, with the
Nasdaq having its best month since June 2000.
The three indexes remain well within 20% of record highs
reached in February, having quickly rebounded since shutdown
efforts to curb the spread of the coronavirus pandemic brought
the economy to a grinding halt.
The five-week tally of unemployment claims topped 30 million
and consumer spending has plummeted, according to the latest
round of dismal indicators providing another snapshot of the
crushing economic effects of the widespread shutdown.
"We've had a tremendous run but we've had the worst economic
data since the Great Depression," said Paul Nolte, portfolio
manager at Kingsview Asset Management in Chicago. "Business and
earnings might not be snapping back as quickly as the v-shaped
recovery on Wall Street would imply."
The Federal Reserved announced that it would broaden its
"Main Street Lending Program" by lowering the minimum loan size
and expanding eligibility.
"Wall Street is liking all the programs that the government
and the Fed are putting together," Nolte added. "So Wall Street
is doing fine but Main Street is going to be a longer process."
The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI fell 288.14 points,
or 1.17%, to 24,345.72, the S&P 500 .SPX lost 27.08 points, or
0.92%, to 2,912.43 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC dropped
25.16 points, or 0.28%, to 8,889.55.
Of the 11 major sectors in the S&P 500, all but consumer
discretionary .SPLRCD and communications services .SPLRCL
closed in negative territory, with energy companies .SPNY
suffering the largest percentage loss.
Earnings season continues apace, with 236 of the companies
in the S&P 500 having reported quarterly results. Of those,
two-thirds have surprised consensus estimates to the upside,
according to Refinitiv data.
But there have been 90 negative pre-announcements in the
first quarter, compared with 40 positive, and analysts see
aggregate S&P 500 earnings dropping by a year-on-year rate of
14.4% in the first three months of 2020, per Refinitiv.
Amazon.com AMZN.O reported results after the closing bell.
In post-market trading, its shares were down nearly 5%. Apple
Inc AAPL.O earnings were expected soon.
Facebook Inc FB.O climbed 5.2% after the social media
company reported better-than-expected quarterly revenue.
American Airlines AAL.O posted its first quarterly loss
since emerging from bankruptcy in 2013, sending its shares down
4.9%. Declining issues outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE by a
2.58-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 2.81-to-1 ratio favored decliners.
The S&P 500 posted three new 52-week highs and one new low;
the Nasdaq Composite recorded 25 new highs and four new lows.
Volume on U.S. exchanges was 12.80 billion shares, compared
with the 12.3 billion average over the last 20 trading days.