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S&P dips; Apple, Facebook surge after hours

Sour economic data sent the Dow and S&P 500 south Thursday, offsetting strong corporate earnings. Ahead of the opening bell, investors got word that quarterly economic growth suffered its deepest contraction since the Great Depression and that jobless claims rose for the second straight week. Add to that a tweet by President Donald Trump suggesting the possibility of postponing the November presidential election, an idea lawmakers roundly rejected.

The Dow lost 0.9%. The S&P 500 dropped less than half a percent. But the Nasdaq added four-tenths percent ahead of highly anticipated after-hours earnings from tech titans.

Flynn Zito Capital Management financial advisor Doug Flynn warns investors not to load up too much on tech stocks.

"One out of every $4 in the S&P is in tech. If you have that plus more, and you're pushing a third or more of every dollar in tech, that's too much. "

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After the bell, investors got blowout earnings from Apple. Revenue gained across every category and region as consumers staying and working at home turned to its products and services. iPhone sales topped Wall Street's targets by $4 billion. Apple, whose shares have risen 31% this year, rose more than 4%.

Facebook's shares jumped 6%. Its quarterly profit doubled, and revenue rose as more businesses used digital advertising tools to tap a surge in online traffic amid the pandemic.

Amazon shares shot 5% higher. Its bottom line also doubled to a record high. Sales rose 40% as people staying at home bought more groceries and other essentials on its platform.

Shares of Google parent Alphabet rose modestly. Revenue fell slightly but beat analysts targets as more advertisers tapped the search engine to reach potential customers.