Health bill delay a drag on stocks

NEW YORK — U. S. stock indexes gave up an early rally and ended mostly lower Thursday after Republicans delayed a vote on their health care proposal and left investors concerned about delays for the business- friendly agenda of President Donald Trump.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose as much as 96 points just before 1 p. m., but doubts about the bill cast a shadow over the market as hard- line conservatives said they didn’t support it. Health care stocks turned lower.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 index fell 2.49 points, or 0.1 percent, to 2,345.96. The Dow lost 4.72 points to 20,656.58. The Nasdaq composite slid 3.95 points, or 0.1 percent, to 5,817.69. The Russell 2000 index, which tracks smaller companies, gained 7.83 points, or 0.6 percent, to 1,353.43.

A growing boycott of YouTube advertising hurt Alphabet shares, Google’s parent company. Smaller companies did better than the rest of the market and more stocks rose than fell, a sign that investors are still confident in the U. S. economy.

Near the close of trading, the House Republican leadership postponed a vote on the American Health Care Act because of a lack of support. Conservatives and more moderate Republicans had opposing concerns about the bill, which is widely disliked by House Democrats.

Jamie Cox, managing partner for Harris Financial Group, said investors are worried about how the Republicancontrolled Congress and White House will come together on issues including tax reform, a debt ceiling increase, and increased infrastructure spending.

“If the Republicans are having such a difficult time making changes to something they universally agree upon, how on earth are they going to agree on the more complicated tax cut that is coming through later in the year?” Cox asked.

Bond prices edged lower. The yield on the 10- year Treasury note, which has skidded over the past few days, rose to 2.42 percent from 2.40 percent. That modest increase gave banks and other financial companies a lift.

Alphabet fell as a YouTube advertising boycott spread. Companies including Johnson & Johnson, AT& T and Verizon have suspended their YouTube ad campaigns in the past week because their ads were appearing alongside offensive videos, including some that promoted terrorism. The ads are placed automatically and Google has said it will do more to block offensive videos. YouTube is one of the fastest- growing parts of Google’s ad system.

Alphabet shares fell $ 10.15, or 1.2 percent, to $ 839.65. Technology companies lagged behind the rest of the market. Alphabet is the secondmost- valuable company on the S& P 500 after Apple.

U. S. crude oil lost 34 cents to $ 47.70 a barrel in New York. Brent crude, used to price international oils, slipped 8 cents to $ 50.56 a barrel in London. That pulled energy companies lower.

Gold fell $ 2.50 to $ 1,247.20 an ounce, which ended a small five- day streak of gains. Silver rose 2 cents to $ 17.59 an ounce. Copper picked up 1 cent to $ 2.64 a pound.