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Nasdaq ends at new record; oil shares fall

New York - The Nasdaq jumped to a fresh record on Thursday ahead of earnings reports from Amazon and other technology giants after the market close, while weakness in oil prices hit petroleum-linked equities.

Investors were looking ahead to a torrent of earnings from large technology companies later on Thursday, including Google parent Alphabet, Microsoft and Expedia. All finished in positive territory.

But oil company Apache fell 3.3% and oil services giant Schlumberger lost 1.7% as US oil prices fell further below $50 a barrel on worries about excess supply.

The Nasdaq finished at a record for the third time in four sessions at 6 048.94, up 0.4%.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average added less than 0.1% to close the day at 20 981.39, while the broad-based S&P 500 advanced 0.1% to end at 2 388.77.

Among oil companies, Anadarko was especially weak, losing 5.3% as it shut 3 000 producing wells in Colorado after two people were killed in an April 17 explosion near the company's drilling operations. Anadarko said the wells would be shut until they can be inspected and more is known about what caused the accident.

Airline shares were in sharp retreat after American Airlines said it was boosting employee pay to bring flight attendants and pilots into line with competitor carriers. American lost 5.2%, Delta Air Lines 1.4% and United Continental 0.9%.

Separately, United said it reached an undisclosed settlement with David Dao, a 69-year-old customer who was violently dragged off a United flight earlier this month, sparking global outrage.

Bristol-Myers Squibb rose 3.5% after reporting a 31.7% in earnings to $1.6bn.

PayPal surged 6.2% after announcing it authorised up to $5bn in share repurchases as it reported a 5% increase in first-quarter earnings to $384m.

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