Health trusts lead US stock indices slightly lower
Large US stock indices knocked down in afternoon trading Thursday, pulled down by a major decline in health care.
Insurance companies UnitedHealth Group and Anthem led to healthcare declining, which offset gains in industrial stocks and banks. The market had been higher earlier in the day.
Determined gains in industrial shares after the company delivered better than expected quarterly results. The Prudential Financial and Unum Group was among those engaged in the financial sector.
The modest slide returned some of the reason the market won a day earlier, after minutes from the last Federal Reserve meeting showed that the majority of officials want to keep the interest rate unchanged in 2019. Investors want the central bank to take a more secluded approach to avoid triggering market relationships.
Business revenue is the next key catalyst for investors. Major banks, including Wells Fargo and JPMorgan Chase, will report the results in the quarter on Friday. Delta led a rally in airline shares on Wednesday after reporting solid results.
"Mostly here on five trading days, we've just been a bit up and down, and it really doesn't make any progress," said Rob Haworth, senior investment strategist at US Bank Wealth Management. "Many of you are really waiting for the earnings season."
Investors also follow international development, including the EU deadline for extending Britain's departure. The UK has until October 31 to develop a plan for its exit from the block.
HOLDING SCORE: The S & P 500 index was down 0.1% from 3:07 p.m. Eastern Time. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 45 points, or 0.2% to 26.111. The Nasdaq composite was 0.3%.
Major European indexes closed mostly higher.
BOTH NOT VELL: Several health insurance companies weighed on the market. UnitedHealth Group fell 4.3%, Humana fell 2.7%, Anthem lost 3.8% and Cigna fell 2.9%.
POWER OUTAGE: Tesla slumped 2.9% after news reported that the electrician would keep up with a key battery expansion in the US The expanded expansion follows Tesla's report earlier in April in a decline in production and demand for the quarter.
SCRATCHY LINENS: Bed Bath & Beyond, which has recently been targeted and targeted by a number of activist investors, dropped 8.6% in heavy trading after the company reported a downturn in a key issue that was worse than analysts expect.
NAILED IT: Fastenal climbed 4.7% after the fastener, nails and other hardware manufacturer pushed past the first quarterly forecasts.
The company cited strong demand from construction and industry customers who pushed sales 10.4% higher. It also increased the prices of some of its products to combat higher costs from fares.
IPO SPOTLIGHT: Two technology companies beat the market. PagerDuty increased 61% in its first trading day as a public company, and Tufin Software increased 37.2%. The Israeli based company offers network security software. Investors will be aware later on Thursday when rousing giant Uber is expected to file documents in front of his own high-anticipated original public offer.
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AP Business Writer Damian J. Troise contributed to this report. [19659018]
