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* China casts doubts about long-term trade deal
* Apple, Facebook gain on upbeat results
* Dow down 0.85%, S&P 500 down 0.57%, Nasdaq down 0.39%
(Updates to mid-afternoon, changes byline)
By Chuck Mikolajczak
NEW YORK, Oct 31 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks fell on Thursday,
with the S&P 500 pulling back from its latest record high as
conflicting signals surrounding a possible trade deal between
the United States and China outweighed strong earnings reports
from Apple and Facebook.
Mixed signals around trade gave investors reason for caution
after a Bloomberg report said Chinese officials have doubts
about whether it is possible to reach a comprehensive long-term
trade deal with Washington and U.S. President Donald Trump.
But Trump later said the two countries would soon announce a
new site where a "Phase One" trade deal will be signed after
Chile canceled a planned summit set for mid-November that was to
be the venue for a signing. The S&P 500 .SPX was on pace for its biggest drop in about
three weeks, after notching intraday record highs in the past
three sessions and a closing record in two of the past three
days.
"We have had such a good run here, traders are looking for
an excuse to take a little money off the table," said Scott
Wren, senior global equity strategist at Wells Fargo Investment
Institute in St. Louis.
"The market is kind of burned out on just talking about it -
wants to see something on paper. The market thinks something is
going to happen but it is not going to bite hard on any of these
comments one way or the other right now."
The trade-sensitive industrials sector .SPLRCI lost 1.32%,
while China-exposed chipmakers also fell, sending the
Philadelphia Semiconductor index .SOX down 0.97%.
However, corporate earnings were a bright spot. Apple Inc
AAPL.O rose 1.86% after the iPhone maker forecast sales for
the holiday shopping quarter ahead of expectations. Facebook Inc FB.O gained 2.74% after reporting an uptick
in users in lucrative markets and its third straight rise in
quarterly sales growth. The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI fell 227.96 points,
or 0.84%, to 26,958.73, the S&P 500 .SPX lost 16.94 points, or
0.56%, to 3,029.83 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC dropped
30.13 points, or 0.36%, to 8,273.85.
Earnings for the quarter are now expected to decline 0.8%,
according to Refinitiv data, an improvement from the 2.2%
decline expected at the start of the month.
Data on Thursday showed a marginal rise in consumer spending
in September, casting doubts on consumers' ability to continue
driving the economy, a key pillar of the current economic
environment.
The Labor Department's October jobs data on Friday will be
closely watched after the Fed signaled on Wednesday there would
be no further cuts unless the economy takes a negative turn.
Among other stocks, Estee Lauder Cos Inc EL.N fell 4.45%
after the cosmetics maker cut its forecast for full-year profit.
Kraft Heinz Co KHC.O jumped 11.47% as the packaged foods
company said it was spending more on marketing key brands next
year, after reporting a better-than-expected third-quarter
profit. Declining issues outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE by a
1.85-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.99-to-1 ratio favored decliners.
The S&P 500 posted 25 new 52-week highs and 5 new lows; the
Nasdaq Composite recorded 62 new highs and 75 new lows.