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* Biden takes narrow lead in key states of Georgia,
Pennsylvania
* Tech heavyweights slip after sharp weekly gains
* Value stocks outperform growth
* S&P 500, Nasdaq track best week since April
* Indexes off: Dow 0.07%, S&P 0.03%, Nasdaq 0.18%
(Adds comment, details; updates prices)
By Medha Singh and Ambar Warrick
Nov 6 (Reuters) - Wall Street's main indexes took a breather
on Friday after sharp gains this week as Democrat Joe Biden
edged closer to victory in a nail-biting election, while the
monthly jobs report underlined the economic challenge facing
America's next president.
Biden took the lead over President Donald Trump in the
battleground states of Pennsylvania and Georgia, putting him on
the verge of winning the White House hours after Trump falsely
claimed the election was being "stolen" from him. "Markets have been pretty comfortable with that idea (of a
Biden win), but if it's contested, it adds a little bit of
uncertainty," said Scott Brown, chief economist at Raymond James
in St. Petersburg, Florida.
"Even with these states being really close, we might have to
go back and recount, so we're in for a long period of
uncertainty."
Despite Friday's losses, the benchmark S&P 500 .SPX and
tech-heavy Nasdaq .IXIC were on track for their best week
since April as the prospect of a policy gridlock in Washington
eased worries about tighter regulations on U.S. companies.
Republicans could keep control of the U.S. Senate pending
the outcome of four undecided races and they would likely block
large parts of Biden's legislative agenda, including expanding
healthcare and fighting climate change. Meanwhile, the government's closely-watched report showed
unemployment dropped sharply to 6.9% last month from 7.7% in
September, but job recovery slowed as fiscal support ebbed and
the daily coronavirus cases surged. "Despite a shorter-term rally, ultimately we're going to see
some real challenges in payrolls and the economy," said Phil
Toews, chief executive officer and portfolio manager for Toews
Corp in New York.
"The most leading indicator is the number of cases,
hospitalizations, and number of deaths in the country and that
is going in the completely wrong direction."
At 11:38 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI
was down less than 0.1%, the S&P 500 .SPX was nearly flat and
the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC shed 0.18%.
Technology mega-caps including Apple Inc AAPL.O ,
Amazon.com Inc AMZN.O , Microsoft Corp MSFT.O and Facebook
Inc FB.O fell after logging strong gains this week and were
among the biggest drags on the benchmark S&P 500.
Coty Inc COTY.N jumped 13.5% as the cosmetics maker beat
analysts' estimates for quarterly revenue, while T-Mobile US Inc
TMUS.O gained 6.4% after adding more phone subscribers than
analysts had expected in the third quarter. Electronic Arts Inc EA.O slumped 7.8% after the video game
maker fell short of quarterly sales estimates. Declining issues outnumbered advancers 1.32-to-1 on the NYSE
and 1.50-to-1 on the Nasdaq.
The S&P index recorded 38 new 52-week highs and no new low,
while the Nasdaq recorded 108 new highs and 19 new lows.
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S&P 500 five day periods after presidential elections https://tmsnrt.rs/3k3IwQr
USA-JOBS-UNEMPLOYMENT-PARTICIPATION interactive https://reut.rs/39ER8aX
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