Thursday's early trade: S&P 500, Dow slip

The S&P 500 and Dow Jones slipped on Thursday, giving up early gains as concerns about dismal first-quarter earnings and lasting economic damage from the coronavirus pandemic offset better-than-expected weekly jobless claims numbers.

A 4.7% fall for Boeing Co drove the blue-chip Dow Jones Industrials down more than 1%, as European rival Airbus said it was examining requests to defer deliveries after a collapse in travel demand.

The Nasdaq outperformed the broader market with Amazon.com and Microsoft Corp boosting the tech-heavy index for the fifth session in six. "We are still struggling to grab a foothold on the deterioration of what's going on," said Andrew Smith, chief investment officer of Delos Capital Advisors in Dallas.

"The jobless claims number is better than what economists expected, but it's still a little too soon to be extrapolating to the 'all clear ahead' road." After a 27% rally from its March lows, the S&P 500 index still stands 18% below its record high as first-quarter earnings kicked off with US banks preparing for a wave of future loan defaults following a halt in business activity.

Analysts estimate earnings for S&P 500 companies slumped 12.8% in the first quarter, with US economic growth expected to have contracted at its fastest pace since World War Two.

At 10:19 a.m. ET, the S&P 500 was down 12.13 points, or 0.44%, at 2,771.23 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 245.72 points, or 1.05%, at 23,258.63. The Nasdaq Composite was up 28.97 points, or 0.35%, at 8,422.15.