REFILE-US STOCKS-Wall St ends lower as investors weighed stimulus hopes and bleak jobs data

(Refiles to fix spelling in paragraph 3)
* TSMC boosts semiconductor stocks, Delta boosts airlines
* Weekly jobless claims rise more than expected
* Reports emerge ahead of Biden stimulus announcement
* Indexes down: Dow 0.22%, S&P 0.38%, Nasdaq 0.12%

By Sinéad Carew
NEW YORK, Jan 14 (Reuters) - Wall Street closed lower on
Thursday after making a u-turn toward the end of the session as
reports emerged about U.S. President-elect Joe Biden's pandemic
aid proposal following earlier data that showed a weakening
labor market.
The Labor Department's weekly jobless report showed the
number of Americans filing first-time claims for unemployment
benefits increased more than expected last week, underscoring
the impact of a resurgence in COVID-19 infections. While the S&P 500 lost a lot of steam toward the end of the
day, it spent most of the session in positive territory as
investors counted on Biden unveiling on Thursday evening a
stimulus plan that could exceed $1.5 trillion. "There's a tug-of-war going on between the prospects for
further fiscal stimulus, as a result of Democratic control of
the Senate, and a jobs market that has a long way to go before
it heals," said Emily Roland, co-chief investment strategist at
John Hancock Investment Management. "You have these competing
forces going on which are keeping markets range bound."
But Roland noted that disappointing jobs data could provide
"further fodder for Biden to potentially market this plan."
"Everybody's waiting to hear the details ... Whether it's $1
trillion or $2 trillion, that's a massive amount of fiscal
stimulus," she said.
Citing two people familiar with the plans, The New York
Times reported that Biden is expected on Thursday to unveil a
$1.9 trillion spending package. Since the S&P had gained steadily ahead of the story, Robert
Pavlik, senior portfolio manager at Dakota Wealth in Fairfield,
Connecticut, suggested investors were selling on the news.
Others such as Chuck Carlson, chief executive officer at
Horizon Investment Services in Hammond, Indiana, looked for
potential downsides from the massive spending plan, which
markets have appeared to be craving for months.
"There's some realization that throwing another $2 trillion
into the mix is overkill," said Carlson. "There is that
underlying concern that inflation is going to get rekindled and
this amount of money is certainly a concern.”
After both touched fresh record highs earlier in the
session, the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI finished down
68.95 points, or 0.22%, at 30,991.52 while the Nasdaq Composite
.IXIC dropped 16.31 points, or 0.12%, to 13,112.64.
The S&P 500 .SPX lost 14.3 points, or 0.38%, to close at
3,795.54.
Earlier investors had seemed reassured after U.S. Federal
Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said an interest rate hike would not
be coming anytime time soon and pushed back against suggestions
that it might taper bond purchases any time soon. Of the 11 major S&P sectors, only four closed higher with
economically-sensitive energy .SPNY , up 3%, showing the
biggest percentage gains as oil prices rose.
The biggest percentage decliner on the day was the
information technology .SPLRCT sector.
The domestically-focused small-cap Russell 2000 .RUT index
closed up 2%, while the Dow Jones Transports index .DJT ended
up 1% after both sectors, which are seen as big beneficiaries of
stimulus, scaled all-time highs during the day.
Helping the transport index was a 2.5% rise in shares of
Delta Air Lines DAL.N after Chief Executive Ed Bastian
forecast 2021 to be "the year of recovery" after the coronavirus
pandemic prompted its first annual loss in 11 years.

The S&P 1500 airlines index .SPCOMAIR closed up 3.4%.
This was after Donald Trump became the first president in
U.S. history to be impeached twice when the House voted 232-197
on Wednesday to charge him with inciting riots at the Capitol.
The Philadelphia semiconductor index .SOX also hit a
record high with a big boost from Taiwan Semiconductor
Manufacturing Co Ltd TSM.N . The chip manufacturer's U.S.
shares closed up 5% after it announced its best-ever quarterly
profit and raised revenue and capital spending estimates.
Investors were waiting for the earnings season to kick into
full swing with results from JPMorgan JPM.N , Citigroup C.N
and Wells Fargo WFC.N slated for Friday.
Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by a
2.24-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 2.51-to-1 ratio favored advancers.
The S&P 500 posted 49 new 52-week highs and no new lows; the
Nasdaq Composite recorded 367 new highs and three new lows.
On U.S. exchanges 14.37 billion shares changed hands,
compared with the 12.54 billion average for the last 20
sessions.