US STOCKS-Wall St falls as U.S. crude collapse worsens pandemic woes

(For a live blog on the U.S. stock market, click LIVE/ or type
LIVE/ in a news window.)
* Coca-Cola sees big hit from low demand for sodas
* Travelers misses on profit as catastrophe claims jump
* All 11 major S&P 500 sectors trading lower
* Indexes down: Dow 2.78%, S&P 500 3.20%, Nasdaq 3.85%

(Adds comments, updates prices throughout)
By C Nivedita and Shreyashi Sanyal
April 21 (Reuters) - Wall Street retreated for a second
straight day on Tuesday as a collapse in U.S. crude prices and
glum annual forecasts by companies foreshadowed the biggest
economic slump since the Great Depression due to the coronavirus
outbreak.
All the major S&P 500 sub-sectors fell more than 2%, with
the energy index .SPNY sliding for the seventh time in eight
sessions a day after the WTI contract CLc1 crashed below zero
as oil traders ran out of storage for May deliveries.
With the collapse spilling into June futures contracts,
investors became wary of the extent of the economic damage from
sweeping lockdown measures that have halted business activity
and sparked millions of layoffs. O/R
With many sectors facing the risk of a collapse, investors
are looking to first-quarter earnings reports for the impact of
the health crisis on Corporate America after big U.S. banks set
the stage with dismal outlooks for 2020.
"What we're hearing about is a quarter that's in the
rear-view mirror, but also do not know what the future holds in
the second quarter, which is probably going to be worse," said
Art Hogan, chief market strategist at National Securities in New
York.
The benchmark S&P 500 index .SPX has climbed over 25% from
a March low, powered by trillions of dollars in stimulus, but
still remains nearly 17% below its record high due to state-wide
shutdowns to try to contain the virus.
U.S. jobless claims hit 22 million in the past month as
companies launched dramatic cost-saving measures to ride out the
slump, and readings of U.S. business activity surveys, due
Thursday, are likely to plummet to recession-era lows.
The financials index .SPSY fell 2.9% as the flight from
risk sent investors scurrying to the perceived safety of bonds
and the dollar. US/ FRX/
Coca-Cola Co KO.N provided the latest evidence of the
damage wrought by the pandemic, saying its current-quarter
results would take a severe hit from low demand for sodas.
Travelers Companies TRV.N , the first of the big U.S.
insurers to report results, reported a 25% fall in quarterly
profit, hurt by higher catastrophe losses, but its shares rose
2.5%. Among other Dow components, International Business Machines
Corp IBM.N slid 6.2% after the company withdrew its 2020
annual forecast late on Monday. Chip industry bellwether Texas Instruments TXN.O is set to
report its first-quarter earnings later in the day.
At 11:42 a.m. ET the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI was
down 657.32 points, or 2.78%, at 22,993.12, the S&P 500 .SPX
was down 90.29 points, or 3.20%, at 2,732.87 and the Nasdaq
Composite .IXIC was down 329.55 points, or 3.85%, at 8,231.18.
Declining issues outnumbered advancers more than 7-to-1 on
the NYSE and 4-to-1 on the Nasdaq.
The S&P index recorded one new 52-week high and no new low,
while the Nasdaq recorded 18 new highs and 24 new lows.