Wall Street edges lower, Cardinal hits healthcare names

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stocks mostly edged lower on Thursday as investors found few reasons to keep chasing gains following a record close in the Dow and as a number of prominent names disappointed in their quarterly results.

The day's losses were slight but broad, with eight of the ten primary S&P 500 sectors lower on the day. Industrial names <.SPLRCI> were among the weakest, pressured by Textron results, while Cardinal Health hit healthcare names <.SPXHC>.

Cardinal fell 6.2 percent to $65.20 as its revenue missed expectations, while Textron lost 3 percent to $39.67 as earnings fell from the prior year and sales were nearly flat.

Both the Dow and S&P 500 are coming off three-day winning streaks, and the blue-chip Dow closed at its first record of 2014 on Wednesday, fueled by an upbeat view of the economy from the Federal Reserve, which offset a much weaker-than-expected read on first-quarter economic growth.

"Earnings have been disappointing, and that, along with concerns over valuation, makes it difficult for the market to make too much headway," said Bruce McCain, chief investment strategist at Key Private Bank in Cleveland, Ohio. "We'll probably continue to lose momentum at the top of the trading range until we get some clearly positive signals."

U.S.-listed shares of Sony Corp fell 2.1 percent to $17.27 after the company cut its earnings outlook for the third time in a year, forecasting barely 10 percent of its initial outlook.

The Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> was down 25.06 points, or 0.15 percent, at 16,555.78. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.SPX> was down 2.41 points, or 0.13 percent, at 1,881.47. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.IXIC> was up 5.12 points, or 0.12 percent, at 4,119.68.

On the upside, Yelp Inc jumped 13.8 percent to $66.35 a day after reporting strong revenue growth. DirecTV Inc rose 5.7 percent to $82 after the Wall Street Journal reported that AT&T Inc had approached the company about a possible acquisition. Shares of AT&T dipped 0.5 percent to $35.53.

Jobless claims unexpectedly rose in the latest week, though the underlying trend continued to point to improving labor market conditions. Separately, U.S. consumer spending recorded its largest increase in more than four and a half years in March.

U.S. manufacturing growth accelerated for a third straight month in April, according to the Institute for Supply Management's index of national factory activity.

(Editing by Bernadette Baum and Nick Zieminski)

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