Wall Street ends choppy session higher, health lags on Trump

US stocks ended higher after a choppy day on Wednesday as energy and technology gains countered a drop in healthcare stocks after President-elect Donald Trump said pharmaceutical companies were “getting away with murder” by charging high prices. The Nasdaq ended the day with another record closing high after falling as much as 0.5% after Trump’s first formal news conference since the Nov. 8 election.

NEW YORK — US stocks ended higher after a choppy day on Wednesday as energy and technology gains countered a drop in health care stocks after president-elect Donald Trump said pharmaceutical companies were “getting away with murder” by charging high prices.

The Nasdaq ended the day with another record closing high after falling as much as 0.50% after Trump’s first formal news conference since the Nov. 8 election.

The S&P 500 health care index ended the session down 1% after falling as much as 1.90% earlier in the day and the Nasdaq biotechnology index sank 2.96%, ending a six-day winning streak for both indices.

“When somebody that high profile says something that negative, people do not want to invest in it. They view the sector as uninvestible, and withdraw their money,” Brad Loncar, manager of the Loncar Cancer Immunotherapy ETF.

However, the sector’s pain eased as the session wore on as money managers noted that Trump gave no new specific details on his health care proposals, according to Michael Scanlon, portfolio manager at Manulife Asset Management in Boston.

He cited the beginning of fourth- quarter earnings season on Friday and Trump’s inauguration as President on Jan. 20 as reasons for investor caution.

“Portfolio managers have every reason in the world to sit on their hands,” said Scanlon. “You put those two factors together and I don’t think you’re going to see much movement in the market until maybe we get some fireworks on Friday with earnings.”

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed up 98.75 points, or 0.50%, to 19,954.28, the S&P 500 gained 6.42 points, or 0.28%, to 2,275.32 and the Nasdaq Composite added 11.83 points, or 0.21%, to 5,563.65.

Eight of the 11 major S&P sectors ended the day higher. Energy stocks, ended 1.20% higher as crude oil, prices rose. The S&P’s technology index ended up 0.70%, boosted most by Microsoft Corp., Facebook, Inc. and Apple, Inc.

The biggest drag on the S&P’s health care sector was BristolMeyers Squibb’s with a 5.30% decline, after news that Merck & Co. leapfrogged its rivals in the race to combine immunotherapy with other drugs as a treatment for lung cancer. The next-biggest weights on the sector included Johnson & Johnson, with a 1.20% drop and Abbvie with a 3.60% fall.

Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by a 2.20-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.22-to-1 ratio favored advancers.

The S&P 500 posted 20 new 52week highs and two new lows; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 99 new highs and 18 new lows. —