· Stocks struggled on Wednesday as sharp losses in the health-care sector offset strong quarterly earnings results.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 3.12 points to 26,449.54, while the S&P 500 fell 0.2% to 2,900.45. The Nasdaq Composite closed 0.05% lower at 7,996.08. The Nasdaq 100, which is made up of the 100 largest companies in the composite index, rose 0.3% and hit a record high.
Health care fell 2.9% as a sector, eclipsing a 2% drop from the previous session.
· “Health care is one of the poorest performers this year,” said Ernie Cecilia, CIO at Bryn Mawr Trust. “Some of it is political. The prospects from a regulatory perspective, certainly in managed care and some of the large pharmaceutical companies, is a question mark.”
The sector’s sharp losses came after UnitedHealth CEO David Wichmann warned that proposals pushed by Democratic lawmakers, such as “Medicare for All,” would “surely jeopardize the relationship people have with their doctors, destabilize the nation’s health system and limit the ability of clinicians to practice medicine at their best. ”
· After slipping value over the morning European stocks climbed higher on average Wednesday afternoon, as autos and banks rallied.
The pan-European Stoxx 600 finished provisionally higher by 0.08% with all of the continent’s major individual bourses in positive territory.
Autos and banks both rallied as economic data out of China boosted optimism and assuaged fears that the global economy is slowing down. Oil prices initially received a boost, with Brent at one stage climbing above the $72 a barrel line for the first time since November. By the closing bell Brent had given up its gains and was sitting at around $71.60.
· Shares in the Asia Pacific region traded mixed on Thursday morning as companies reported better-than-expected earnings stateside.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 dipped fractionally in early trade, with shares of conglomerate Softbank Group declining 0.47 percent. The Topix index also traded slightly lower.
South Korea’s Kospi declined 0.15 percent as industry heavyweight Samsung Electronics saw its stock slip 0.43 percent.
In Australia, however, the ASX 200 added 0.28 percent as most of the sectors saw gains. The heavily weighted financial subindex rose about 0.7 percent as bank shares advanced.
Reference: CNBC
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