The S&P 500 and Dow industrials closed at record highs and rose for
a third consecutive week.
Health insurers fell sharply after the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to
hear a challenge to a key part of the Obamacare health law that, if
successful, would limit the availability of federal health insurance
subsidies for millions of Americans.
"Any kind of change in how the healthcare law is interpreted is
going to affect healthcare stocks, probably insurers first," said
Kim Forrest, senior equity research analyst at Fort Pitt Capital
Group in Pittsburgh.
"Whenever the rules have potential to change everybody gets
nervous."
UnitedHealth Group <UNH.N> fell 2.7 percent to $93.61, ranking as
the largest weight on the Dow industrials. Hospital operator Tenet
Healthcare <THC.N> fell 6.5 percent to $47.85 while managed care
facilities operator Humana Inc <HUM.N> was down 6.6 percent to
$130.58.
Healthcare stocks had been pressured from the opening bell by Salix
Pharmaceuticals <SLXP.O>, which closed down 34 percent at $91.47 in
its biggest-ever daily drop.
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Salix on Thursday slashed its full-year forecast given swollen drug
inventories, an issue that dissuaded Allergan from acquiring the
drugmaker, people familiar with the matter said.
On the flip side, employers added 214,000 jobs last month, below the
231,000 expected in a Reuters poll of economists, while gains in the
previous two months were revised higher. The unemployment rate fell
to 5.8 percent, the lowest since July 2008, even as more people
entered the labor force.
"With data like this the Federal Reserve doesn't feel compelled to
come in and help, or squash a too-hot economy," said Fort Pitt
Capital's Forrest. "No more Fed (asset) buying but also no rate
hikes quite yet."
Walt Disney Co <DIS.N> fell 2.2 percent to $90 a day after earnings
met expectations. The stock had closed Thursday at $92, a record
high.
First Solar <FSLR.O> sank 10.8 percent to $50.29 as the biggest
decliner on the S&P 500 a day after the company said it would not
spin off its solar power plants into a separate, publicly traded
entity as some of its competitors have done.
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Energy shares on the S&P 500 <.SPNY> were the day's strongest
performers, rising 1 percent. The sector is down 1.4 percent so far
this year.
The Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> rose 19.46 points, or 0.11
percent, to 17,573.93, the S&P 500 <.SPX> gained 0.71 points, or
0.03 percent, to 2,031.92 and the Nasdaq Composite <.IXIC> dropped
5.94 points, or 0.13 percent, to 4,632.53.
For the week, the Dow rose 1.1 percent and the S&P added 0.7 percent
in their third straight weekly gain. The Nasdaq closed the week up
0.04 percent.
Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by 1,869 to
1,188, for a 1.57-to-1 ratio on the upside; on the Nasdaq, 1,370
issues fell and 1,321 advanced for a 1.04-to-1 ratio favoring
decliners.
The benchmark S&P 500 index posted 52 new 52-week highs and one new
low; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 101 new highs and 58 new lows.
Volume on U.S. exchanges totaled about 6.5 billion shares, compared
to the 7.24 billion average in the last five sessions.
(Editing by Bernadette Baum and James Dalgleish)
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