US STOCKS-Wall St snaps two-day slump as tech titans give lift

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* Microsoft, Apple, Amazon provide boost
* Energy sector gains, helped by rising oil
* Pompeo says 'significant evidence' virus emerged from lab
* Airline shares tumble as Berkshire exits
* Indexes up: Dow 0.11%, S&P 500 0.42%, Nasdaq up 1.23%

(Updates to close of U.S. market)
By Lewis Krauskopf
May 4 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks ended higher on Monday as
increases in large tech and internet companies and oil price
gains outweighed concerns sparked by fresh U.S.-China tensions
and downbeat sentiment from the annual meeting of Warren
Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway.
Major U.S. indexes opened lower but moved higher throughout
the afternoon to snap two-day losing streaks.
Stocks have rebounded sharply since late March from the
coronavirus-fueled sell-off, helped by massive monetary and
fiscal stimulus. Investors are now focused on the impact from a
number of states easing restrictions designed to stop the
outbreak in order to aid their economies.
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo on Monday outlined a phased
reopening of business activity in the state hardest hit by the
COVID-19 pandemic. “Can you lift restrictions and begin to phase in economic
activity and yet keep the number of cases at bay? That is what
the market is focused on right now,” said Quincy Krosby, chief
market strategist at Prudential Financial in Newark, New Jersey.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI rose 26.07 points,
or 0.11%, to 23,749.76, the S&P 500 .SPX gained 12.03 points,
or 0.42%, to 2,842.74 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC added
105.77 points, or 1.23%, to 8,710.72.
Gains in Microsoft MSFT.O , Apple AAPL.O and Amazon
AMZN.O were the biggest lifts for the S&P 500, following mixed
reaction last week to reports from big tech names.
Energy .SPNY was the best performing S&P 500 sector,
rising 3.7%, as oil prices gained. Shares of Delta Air Lines Inc DAL.N , American Airlines
Group Inc AAL.O , Southwest Airlines Co LUV.N and United
Airlines Holdings Inc UAL.O fell between 5% and 8% and were
among the biggest decliners on the S&P 500 after a move by
Berkshire Hathaway to dump stakes in major U.S. airlines.
Shares of Berkshire BRKa.N itself fell 2.6% and weighed on
the S&P 500 after the conglomerate posted a record quarterly net
loss of nearly $50 billion. Buffett, whose comments are closely followed by investors,
acknowledged at Berkshire's annual meeting on Saturday that the
global pandemic could significantly damage the economy and his
investments. “His narrative was relatively sober compared to his posture
over the years," said Emily Roland, co-chief investment
strategist at John Hancock Investment Management.
A flare-up in U.S.-China tensions presents another challenge
to the market. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Sunday
there was "a significant amount of evidence" that the new
coronavirus emerged from a Chinese laboratory. An editorial in
China's Global Times said he was "bluffing". Investors are also digesting a difficult corporate results
season. With more than half of S&P 500 companies reporting
results so far, first-quarter earnings are expected to have
fallen 12.5%, according to Refinitiv data.
Shares of Tyson Foods Inc TSN.N tumbled 7.8% after the
company said the coronavirus crisis will continue to idle U.S.
meat plants and slow production as it reported
lower-than-expected earnings and revenue for the quarter.

Data on Monday showed new orders for U.S.-made goods
suffered a record decline in March and could sink further as
disruptions from the coronavirus fracture supply chains and
depress exports. Declining issues outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE by a
1.09-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.14-to-1 ratio favored advancers.
The S&P 500 posted no new 52-week highs and three new lows;
the Nasdaq Composite recorded 18 new highs and 14 new lows.
About 9.5 billion shares changed hands in U.S. exchanges,
below the 12.1 billion-share daily average over the last 20
sessions.