Dow peeks above 23,000, retreats

Gains by health care companies led U.S. stock indexes mostly higher Tuesday, pushing the market further into record territory.

The Dow Jones industrial average briefly climbed above the 23,000 mark for the first time, settling just below the milestone. Slight gains nudged the Dow and Standard & Poor’s 500 indexes to new highs for the secondstraight day this week.

Health care companies posted some of the biggest gains after strong earnings from UnitedHealth Group and Johnson & Johnson were announced. Banks and other financial stocks declined the most. Packaged food and beverage companies were also big laggards.

Trading was mostly listless as investors sized up the latest company earnings news and looked ahead to a full slate of corporate report cards later this week.

“Expectations of ongoing earnings growth are reasonably strong, but there may be a bit of a wait-and-see at this point in time, given the run in the equity markets,” said Jason Pride, director of investment strategy at Glenmede.

The S&P 500 index rose 1.72 points, or 0.1 percent, to 2,559.36. The Dow rose 40.48 points, or 0.2 percent, to 22,997.44. The Nasdaq composite slipped 0.35 point, or 0.01 percent, to 6,623.66. The Russell 2000 index of smallercompany stocks fell 5.18 points, or 0.3 percent, to 1,497.50.

More stocks fell than rose on the New York Stock Exchange.

The major stock indexes drifted between small gains and losses for much of the day.

Health insurers, hospitals and other health care companies also rose as two leading lawmakers reached a deal on a plan that would extend federal payments to health insurers that President Donald Trump had blocked last week. Trump said Tuesday afternoon that the White House has been involved in the plan, which he called a “short-term deal.” Biogen rose $8.799, or 2.6 percent, to $344.47, while Anthem rose $3.50, or 1.9 percent, to $187.26.

Shares of Netflix fell 1.6 percent after the streamingvideo company said its debt and programming costs continue to rise as it gained subscribers last quarter. Its shares fell $3.20 to $199.48.

While only a few companies have reported results so far, earnings are mostly looking good, noted Erik Davidson, chief investment officer for Wells Fargo Private Bank.

“Earnings are growing year-over-year and, most importantly, the [revenue] overall thus far seems to be doing OK,” he said.

Fifty companies are to report quarterly results this week, the first full week of the third-quarter earnings season. S&P 500 companies are forecast to deliver 3.3 percent earnings growth in the third quarter, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence.

Among the big names scheduled to report earnings this week are American Express, Verizon Communications and General Electric.

Traders also drew encouragement Tuesday from economic data that showed U.S. industrial production rose a solid 0.3 percent last month as manufacturing of automobiles, home electronics and appliances increased. The gains were limited because of lingering damage from Hurricanes Harvey and Irma.

Oil prices closed slightly higher, rebounding after an early slide.

Benchmark U.S. crude gained a penny to settle at $51.88 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude, used to price international oils, rose 6 cents to close at $57.88 a barrel in London.

Gold fell $16.80, or 1.3 percent, to $1,286.20 an ounce. Silver slid 33 cents to $17.04 an ounce. Copper fell 4 cents to $3.20 a pound.