S&P 500 set to snap winning streak as labor market rebound slows

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Wall Street retreated on Thursday as mixed earnings, a surprise increase in U.S. jobless claims and Washington’s tug-of-war over stimulus measures fed risk aversion among investors.

The sell-off steepened after Axios reported that Apple faces a multi-state consumer protection probe.

All three major U.S. stock averages were lower, with falling momentum stocks Apple Inc (AAPL.O), Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O) and Amazon.com (AMZN.O) weighing heaviest.

“We keep seeing this push-pull rotation in and out of cyclicals and large cap names,” said Robert Pavlik, chief investment strategist, senior portfolio manager at SlateStone Wealth LLC in New York. “People believe that tech has had its run and is looking expensive.”

U.S. jobless claims unexpectedly ticked higher to 1.416 million last week, the Labor Department said.

The number excludes recipients of Pandemic Unemployment Assistance, set to expire on July 31.

Congress kept working to pass new stimulus before that deadline continued, with Senate Republicans announcing they could present their version of the bill to Democrats as early as this week.

Total U.S. coronavirus cases topped 4 million on Thursday, with nearly 2,600 new cases every hour, on average, according to a Reuters tally.

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