US STOCKS-Wall Street churns as stimulus hopes vie with pandemic worries

(For a live blog on the U.S. stock market, click LIVE/ or
type LIVE/ in a news window.)
* U.S. jobless claims, consumer spending hint at stalling
recovery
* Airlines head higher on coronavirus aid hopes
* Exxon warns of bigger-than-expected Q3 loss
* Market leaders boost all three indexes
* Indexes: Dow off 0.30%, S&P up 0.07%, Nasdaq 0.91%

(New throughout, updates prices, market activity and comments
to late afternoon; new byline, adds NEW YORK dateline)
By Stephen Culp
NEW YORK, Oct 1 (Reuters) - Wall Street see-sawed on
Thursday as investors juggled optimism over progress on stimulus
talks Washington with signs of waning momentum of economic
recovery from the pandemic recession, now entering its ninth
month.
The S&P 500 was modestly higher and the Nasdaq more solidly
in the black. The blue-chip Dow was lower, with all three
indexes losing steam in mid-afternoon trading.
A spate of data, including jobless claims and consumer
spending, suggested that the plodding economic recovery could be
losing steam. But in the latest development in negotiations for a new
pandemic relief deal, the White House countered House Democrats'
$2.2 trillion package with a $1.5 trillion-plus proposal, to
include a $20 billion aid extension for airlines. U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi cautioned that Democrats and
the White House remained locked in a debate over dollars an
values, but expressed optimism that a deal could be reached.
"The market is viewing the stimulus as a lubricant for the
economy, to take the market to the next level and to keep the
consumer strong," said Matthew Keator, managing partner in the
Keator Group, a wealth management firm in Lenox, Massachusetts.
"One of the encouraging things is the Speaker and the
Treasury Secretary (Steven Mnuchin) have kept an open mind,
which leads to the adage 'hope springs eternal.'" Keator added.
The major stock indexes started the fourth quarter with
gains driven again by market leaders such as Amazon.com
AMZN.O , Microsoft Corp MSFT.O and Apple Inc AAPL.O .
The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI fell 82.41 points,
or 0.3%, to 27,699.29, the S&P 500 .SPX gained 2.26 points, or
0.07%, to 3,365.26 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC added 101.83
points, or 0.91%, to 11,269.33.
Of the 11 major sectors in the S&P 500, communications
services .SPLRCL was the largest percentage gainer, while
energy companies .SPNY lagged the most.
With the books closed on the third quarter, market
participants await earnings season, set to get underway in about
two weeks.
Analysts currently see S&P 500 earnings, in aggregate,
falling by 21.4% year-on-year according to Refinitiv.0.3
Exxon Mobil Corp XOM.N dropped 3.8% after it signaled a
bigger-than-expected third quarter loss as falling oil costs and
plunging demand.
Boeing Co BA.N rose 0.4% and after Federal Aviation
Administration Chief Steve Dickson remarked "I liked what I saw"
following Wednesday's 737 MAX test flight. Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by a
1.58-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.33-to-1 ratio favored advancers.
The S&P 500 posted 11 new 52-week highs and no new lows; the
Nasdaq Composite recorded 60 new highs and 34 new lows.