US STOCKS-Wall St drops as pandemic fears return

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* Airlines, cruise line operators drop as virus cases spiral
* Moderna climbs as it closes in on vaccine data release
* Jobless claims drop to seven-month low
* Indexes: Dow -1.24%, S&P 500 -1.15%, Nasdaq -0.65%

(Updates with afternoon trade)
By Noel Randewich
Nov 12 (Reuters) - Wall Street tumbled on Thursday as U.S.
coronavirus infections surged and investors weighed the timeline
for the mass rollout of an effective vaccine.
New York became the latest state to introduce stricter
social distancing rules on Wednesday, as new infections in the
country surged above 100,000 for an eighth consecutive day.
The blue-chip Dow .DJI was pulled down by industrial and
financial companies sensitive to economic growth, with Boeing Co
BA.N and Goldman Sachs GS.N each down almost 2%.
Airlines and cruise operators, among the hardest hit by the
coronavirus pandemic, also fell. The S&P 1500 airlines index
.SPCOMAIR fell 2.6%, while Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd RCL.N
dropped 2.4% and Carnival Corp CCL.N tumbled 6.2%.
Even after Thursday's drop, the S&P 500 has gained almost 2%
this week, buoyed by positive vaccine trial data that increased
expectations of a quick economic recovery. Stocks have also
benefited from expectations that a divided Congress will keep
President-elect Joe Biden from enacting tax hikes that would
hurt corporate profits.
"The reality is that we don't know what the new normal is
going to look like, even when we do recover from the
coronavirus, and that is still a ways away," said Tom Martin,
senior portfolio manager at Globalt Investments in Atlanta.
"It's the classic between the market discounting something
that is nine to 12 months out, and then 'undiscounting' it
because it has not happened yet."
New data showed U.S. jobless claims fell to a seven-month
low last week, but the pace of job recovery slowed as fiscal
stimulus waned and further improvement could be limited by a
raging pandemic. Amazon.com Inc AMZN.O and Apple AAPL.O dipped less than
1%, while keeping the Nasdaq negative.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI was down 1.24% at
29,031.8 points, while the S&P 500 .SPX lost 1.15% to
3,531.44.
The Nasdaq Composite .IXIC dropped -0.65% to 11,709.71.
Among the biggest boosts to the Nasdaq was a 21% surge in
the U.S.-listed shares of Chinese e-commerce company Pinduoduo
Inc PDD.O after it reported strong quarterly revenue.
Rival JD.com Inc's JD.O shares climbed 5%.
The S&P 500 energy index .SPNY dropped 3% and financials
.SPSY fell 2.2%.
Moderna Inc MRNA.O added 5% after the drugmaker said it
had enough data for a first interim analysis of the late-stage
trial of its experimental COVID-19 vaccine. It did not say when
it plans to release the data. Walt Disney Co DIS.N and network gear maker Cisco Systems
Inc CSCO.O each slipped over 1% ahead of their quarterly
results due after close.
Declining issues outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE by a
2.84-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 2.12-to-1 ratio favored decliners.
The S&P 500 posted five new 52-week highs and no new lows;
the Nasdaq Composite recorded 66 new highs and 11 new lows.