Stocks mostly rise; Dow flirts with 23,000

Gains by healthcare 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 second day this week.

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

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

Early on, traders eyed earnings news from big companies such as Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, UnitedHealth Group and Johnson & Johnson.

UnitedHealth, the country’s biggest health insurer, jumped 5.5% to $203.89 after reporting earnings that beat estimates. Johnson & Johnson advanced 3.4% to $140.79.

Healthcare companies also rose as two leading lawmakers reached a deal on a plan that would extend federal payments to health insurers that President Trump blocked last week. Biogen rose 2.6% to $344.47. Anthem rose 2.4% to $186.19.

Morgan Stanley rose 0.4% to $49.12 after posting quarterly results that beat Wall Street’s expectations.

Traders took a dimmer view of Goldman Sachs’ results. The bank also posted results that beat analysts’ estimates, but its trading desks struggled during the quarter. Goldman shares slid 2.6% to $236.09.

Netflix fell 1.6% to $199.48 after the streaming video company said its debt and programming costs continued to rise last quarter.

So far, earnings are mostly looking good, said 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.

This is the first full week of the third-quarter earnings season. S&P 500 companies are forecast to deliver 3.3% earnings growth in the quarter, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence.

Traders also drew encouragement Tuesday from economic data that showed U.S. industrial production rose a solid 0.3% last month. Separately, a gauge of home builders’ confidence rose more than expected this month.

Bond prices were little changed. The yield on the 10year Treasury note held steady at 2.30%.

Oil prices edged up. Benchmark U.S. crude rose a penny to $51.88 a barrel. Brent crude, used to price international oils, rose 6 cents to $57.88 a barrel. Wholesale gasoline rose a penny to $1.63 a gallon. Heating oil was little changed at $1.81 a gallon. Natural gas rose 2 cents to $2.96 per 1,000 cubic feet.

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

The dollar fell to 112.18 yen from 112.22 yen. The euro fell to $1.1772 from $1.1792.