US STOCKS-Wall Street retreats after mixed bag of earnings

* Travelers biggest drag on Dow after results

* Jobless claims unexpectedly fall last week

* Indexes down: Dow 0.53 pct, S&P 0.46 pct, Nasdaq (NasdaqGS: NDAQ - news) 0.07 pct (Updates to afternoon)

By Noel Randewich

April 21 (Reuters) - Wall Street retreated on Thursday, heading for its first loss in four sessions after a mixed bag of quarterly reports and a warning by Verizon Communications (Xetra: 868402 - news) that a strike by workers would likely impact its bottom line.

The benchmark S&P 500 index in recent days has rallied to within 1 percent of its May record high, buoyed by a softer dollar and recovering crude prices. But some investors warned that stocks were priced to perfection, leaving little room for quarterly scorecards that fail to inspire.

Tech heavyweights Alphabet (Xetra: ABEA.DE - news) and Microsoft (Euronext: MSF.NX - news) were set to hand in their results after the bell.

"Earnings have been decent, outperforming, but outperforming expectations that have been dramatically lowered," said Charlie Johnson, a sales trader at Greentree Brokerage Services in Philadelphia. "So it's like a shell game."

Crude fell about 1 percent, but hovered near five-month highs after the International Energy Agency said 2016 would see the biggest fall in non-OPEC production in 25 years. Oil and U.S (Other OTC: UBGXF - news) . stock prices have been moving in lockstep for several months.

Weighing most on the S&P 500, Verizon (NYSE: VZ - news) 's shares slumped 4.3 percent after the company said a strike by its wireline workers was expected to hurt earnings this quarter.

At 2:23 p.m., the Dow Jones industrial average was down 0.53 percent to 18,001.04 points and the S&P 500 had lost 0.46 percent to 2,092.68.

The Nasdaq Composite edged down 0.07 percent to 4,944.86.

Nine of the 10 major S&P sectors were lower. Verizon pulled the telecom sector down 2.17 percent and weighed the most on the S&P 500.

Travelers fell 5.8 percent after the property and casualty insurer reported a 17 percent fall in profit. The stock was the biggest drag on the Dow.

S&P 500 companies are expected to post a 7.2 percent fall in profit on average, and a 1.4 percent decline in revenue.

As much as 77 percent of the S&P companies that have reported so far in the first quarter have beaten profit estimates, compared with the 63 percent that surprise in a typical quarter, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

American Express (Swiss: AXP.SW - news) shares climbed 1.3 percent after revenue rose for the first time in five quarters, while Mattel sank 6.3 percent after sales fell.

Under Armour (Xetra: U9R.DE - news) rose 7.6 percent, while General Motors (NYSE: GM - news) added 1.3 percent after both reported better-than-expected profits.

Declining issues outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE by 1,751 to 1,193. On the Nasdaq, 1,494 issues fell and 1,256 rose.

The S&P 500 index showed 10 new 52-week highs and no new lows, while the Nasdaq recorded 42 new highs and 12 lows. (Additional reporting by Abhiram Nandakumar in Bengaluru; Editing by Bernadette Baum)