While you were sleeping: Healthcare stocks rise but Dow fades

Wall Street rose then faded as oil prices recovered and investors assessed the healthcare bill released by Senate Republicans.

At the close of trading in New York, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 12.74 points, or 0.06%, to 21,397.29 after making gains for most of the session.

The Nasdaq Composite Index rose less than 3 points, or 0.04%, to 6236.69 while the Standard & Poor's 500 Index eased by just over a point to 2434.50.

Health care stocks moved higher after Senate Republicans released the bill that would replace the Affordable Care Act. The proposal would provide an additional $US50 billion over four years to stabilise insurance exchanges, boosting health insurers, according to Bloomberg.

In the Dow, gains in UnitedHealth Group and Pfizer failed to outweigh declines in Wal-Mart Stores and Goldman Sachs.

Shares of Gilead Sciences , Envision Healthcare and Centene each rose more than 3% in the S&P 500.

Energy shares gave back earlier gains and fell 0.1% in the S&P 500. US crude for August delivery gained 0.5%, to $US42.74 a barrel after prices fell for three straight sessions,

"Oil is trying to balance but I'm worried that it would continue to head lower," Aaron Clark, portfolio manager at GW&K Investment Management, told Reuters.

"I think this a situation where OPEC is ceding market share and is no longer able to control prices."

The yield on the 10-year US Treasury note slipped to 2.153% from 2.156% on Wednesday. 

Oracle rises on improved earnings
Shares of Oracle jumped 8.7% after the software maker posted quarterly earnings that surpassed analysts' expectations

"Everything looks very, very strong," Joel Fishbein, an analyst at BTIG, told Bloomberg. "Oracle is a legitimate and formidable cloud player."

Shares of American Airlines gained 1.5% after Qatar Airways said it planned to purchase at least $US808 million worth of stock for as much as a 10% stake.

Meanwhile, the US dollar weakened as the latest jobs data offered further evidence of a tight labour market.

A Labor Department report showed initial claims for state unemployment benefits rose 3000 to a seasonally adjusted 241,000 for the week ended June 17.

In Europe, Germany's DAX Index rose 0.2%, while France's CAC40 Index also gained 0.2%. The UK's FTSE 100 Index slipped 0.1%.

"Equities are still the least unattractive asset class," Barclays' Ajay Rajadhyaksha and Michael Gavin wrote in a note, Bloomberg reported.

"Investors should resist the contrarian temptation to retreat from equity risk, in part because safe assets are similarly richly valued."

(BusinessDesk)