Apple, United Continental fall as Dow ekes out another record

Tech giants, including Apple, and the airline United Continental were among the big losers Thursday as the Dow scraped out another record but the Nasdaq fell.

US stocks were under pressure the entire session, but both the Dow and S&P 500 eked out records after opening lower and staying negative most of the day.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average edged up less than 0.1 percent to 23,163.04, its fourth straight record.

The broad-based S&P 500 also eked out a fresh record, finishing up a hair at 2,562.10, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index shed 0.3 percent to 6,605.07.

Analysts said a pullback wasn't surprising given that stocks have risen with little break since early September.

Apple slid 2.4 percent amid speculation of poor sales for its latest smartphone, the iPhone 8. Other tech names that fell included Google parent Alphabet, which lost 0.8 percent and Tesla Motors, which shed 2.2 percent.

United Continental sank 12.0 percent following a contentious conference call with analysts following a disappointing earnings forecast. United projected that the pre-tax profit margin would decline to three-to-five percent in the fourth quarter from 9.9 percent in the third quarter.

But other companies rallied after earnings, with Verizon Communications gaining 1.2 percent after notching a 0.3 percent dip in third-quarter earnings of $3.7 billion. Revenues rose 2.5 percent to $31.7 billion.

General Electric jumped 2.0 percent ahead of its third-quarter earnings report Friday morning.

Adobe Systems surged 12.2 percent after delivering a strong 2018 forecast during an investor presentation. The software company forecast a 20 percent rise in revenues to $8.7 billion with growth in key cloud and digital media businesses.