US STOCKS-Wall Street retreats as business activity slows

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* Nike hits record high after stellar quarter
Energy stocks lead declines
* Tesla tumbles as 'Battery Day' disappoints
* Indexes off: Dow 0.17%, S&P 0.53%, Nasdaq 0.94%

(Adds comments; updates prices)
By Sagarika Jaisinghani and Devik Jain
Sept 23 (Reuters) - Wall Street's main indexes fell on
Wednesday as data showed domestic business activity slowed in
September, although a record high for Nike following a strong
quarterly earnings report capped declines on the blue-chip Dow.
Nine of the 11 major S&P indexes were down in morning
trading, with energy .SPNY - already the worst performing
sector this year - leading declines. O/R
Hopes of a stable economic rebound from a pandemic-led
recession, combined with historic fiscal and monetary stimulus,
had driven a rally in the three main U.S. stock indexes since a
coronavirus-driven crash in March.
However, doubts over the next coronavirus relief bill as
well as a selloff in heavyweight technology-related stocks have
weighed on sentiment this month, with Wall Street favorites
including Facebook Inc FB.O , Apple Inc AAPL.O and Amazon.com
Inc AMZN.O bearing the brunt of the losses.
"There's a lot of uncertainties out there, not the least of
which is the election, what stimulus can potentially look like
and if an increase in COVID-19 cases leads to more
restrictions," said Lindsey Bell, chief investment strategist at
Ally Invest in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Data on Wednesday showed gains at factories were offset by a
slowdown in the services sector this month, suggesting a loss of
momentum in the economy at a time when concerns are rising about
a potential surge in COVID-19 cases heading into the colder
months. Meanwhile, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said the
central bank was not planning any "major" changes to make its
Main Street Lending Program more broadly available, saying
companies had made only "modest" use of the facility.
At 11:38 a.m. ET, the S&P 500 .SPX was down 0.53%, while
the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC fell 0.94%. In contrast, the Dow
Jones Industrial Average .DJI declined just 0.17%.
"When the Dow outperforms the Nasdaq, it's telling you that
the market believes the reopening (and) vaccines are on track,
and that's going to help the type of large industrial stocks,"
said Thomas Hayes, managing member at Great Hill Capital LLC in
New York.
Nike Inc NKE.N surged 9.7% to a record high as its digital
sales, especially in North America, helped offset a fall in
sales at traditional brick-and-mortar stores. Tesla Inc TSLA.O tumbled 7.5% after Chief Executive
Officer Elon Musk failed to impress with his promise to cut
electric vehicle costs at the much awaited "Battery Day" event
on Tuesday. Oracle Corp ORCL.N fell 2.2% after a report by a
state-backed Chinese newspaper said Beijing was unlikely to
approve a proposed deal by the software maker and Walmart
WMT.N for ByteDance's TikTok. Johnson & Johnson JNJ.N gained 1% after kicking off a
final 60,000-person trial of a single-shot COVID-19 vaccine that
would potentially simplify distribution of millions of doses,
compared with leading rivals using two doses.
Declining issues outnumbered advancers 1.79-to-1 on the NYSE
and 1.55-to-1 on the Nasdaq.
The S&P index recorded three new 52-week highs and no new
low, while the Nasdaq recorded 30 new highs and 22 new lows.