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* Twitter plunges on dull second-quarter outlook
* Chevron down as profit drops on weaker refining margins
* U.S. consumer spending rebounds in March
(Updates with market close)
By Noel Randewich and Shivani Kumaresan
April 30 (Reuters) - Wall Street ended lower on Friday, with
Apple, Alphabet and other tech-related companies weighing on the
S&P 500 and Nasdaq despite recent strong quarterly earnings
reports.
A day after the S&P 500 closed at a record high, Apple
AAPL.O , Google-parent Alphabet GOOGL.O and Facebook FB.O
each gave back gains following upbeat quarterly reports this
week.
Amazon.com Inc AMZN.O was almost unchanged after it posted
record profit late on Thursday and signaled that consumers would
keep spending in a growing U.S. economy. Amazon had been up over
2% earlier in the session. Twitter Inc TWTR.N plunged after it offered a tepid
revenue forecast for the second quarter, saying user growth
could slow as the boost seen during the pandemic fizzles.
While megacap favorites posted largely strong earnings in
the first quarter, their shares have struggled to maintain the
upward trajectory that many had coming into reporting season.
"There is a sense that maybe next quarter is as good as it's
going to get, and we're going to roll over, particularly among
the Nasdaq stocks and Big Tech stocks that benefited from the
pandemic," said Jack Ablin, chief investment officer at Cresset
Wealth Advisors in Palm Beach, Florida.
Most of the 11 major S&P 500 sector indexes fell, with
technology .SPLRCT , materials .SPLRCM and energy .SPNY
among the deepest decliners.
Of the 303 companies in the S&P 500 that have reported so
far, 87% have topped analysts' earnings estimates, with
Refinitiv IBES data now predicting a 46% jump in profit growth.
Data on Friday showed U.S. consumer spending rebounded in
March amid a surge in income as households received additional
COVID-19 pandemic relief money from the government. Despite Friday's weakness, the Nasdaq .IXIC completed its
sixth consecutive month of gains. The Dow Jones Industrial
Average .DJI has now shown monthly gains for the past three
months.
Unofficially, the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI fell
0.53% to end at 33,879 points, while the S&P 500 .SPX lost
0.72% to 4,181.21.
The Nasdaq Composite .IXIC dropped 0.85%, to 13,962.68.
Chevron Corp CVX.N dropped after its first-quarter profit
fell 29%, hit by weaker refining margins and production losses.
AbbVie Inc ABBV.N rose after it reported strong results
and raised its 2021 earnings forecast, helped by demand for its
rheumatoid arthritis drug in the United States.