Health care firms push up indexes
Better-than-expected earnings growth outpaces steep declines from energy companies.
Stocks closed slightly higher on Tuesday, boosted by health-care companies such as UnitedHealth Group, which helped outweigh steep declines in energy companies.
Tiffany jumped after it reported better quarterly results than analysts expected.
The Dow Jones industrial average rose 23.70 points, or 0.1 percent, to 19,121.60. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index rose 2.94 points, or 0.1 percent, to 2,204.66 and the Nasdaq composite rose 11.11 points, or 0.2 percent, to 5,379.92.
Stocks started the day slightly lower but posted slight gains by late morning and stayed higher throughout the afternoon.
Health care stocks were a primary driver of the market’s upward turn. UnitedHealth, the largest U.S. health insurer, backed its forecast for this year and said it expects its earnings to grow in 2017. That’s because of stable medical costs, less exposure to Affordable Care Act health care exchanges and growth for Optum, a business that manages pharmacy benefits and provides technology services.
The Dow component closed up $5.48, or 3.6 percent, to $157.59.
Other health care stocks also rallied. Alexion Pharmaceuticals rose $6.21, or 5 percent, to $125.59, drugmaker AbbVie rose $2.13, or 3.6 percent, to $61.59. Other insurance companies also posted gains. Aetna rose $3.64, or 2.8 percent, to $132.03. Cigna, Humana and Anthem all closed up more than 1 percent.
After taking a pause Monday, stocks remain in rally mode since the election. However, the gains have slowed down.
“We’re seeing a lot of consolidation after the market’s big run,” said Karen Hiatt, a senior portfolio manager at Allianz Global Investors.
In energy, oil prices fell sharply after it seemed like a deal to reduce oil production among OPEC nations was starting to fall apart ahead of their meeting Wednesday.
Benchmark U.S. crude fell $1.85, or 3.9 percent, to close at $45.23 a barrel in New York. Brent crude, used to price international oils, tumbled $1.86, or 3.9 percent, to close at $46.38 a barrel in London.
Energy stocks followed oil prices lower, with oil giants Exxon Mobil and Chevron falling roughly 1 percent each. The energy component of the S&P 500 fell 1.2 percent on Tuesday.
Heating oil fell 5 cents to $1.46 a gallon, wholesale gasoline fell 4 cents to $1.38 a gallon and natural gas was mostly unchanged at $3.32 per 1,000 cubic feet.
Bond prices rose. The yield on the 10year Treasury note fell to 2.30 percent from 2.31 percent. The dollar rose to 112.33 yen from 112.26 yen. The euro rose to $1.0647 compared with $1.0597 Monday.