* Tiffany rises on 4th-qtr profit beat * Adobe up on strong quarterly results * Dow up 0.06 pct, S&P up 0.05 pct, Nasdaq down 0.03 pct (Updates to open) By Anya George Tharakan March 17 (Reuters) – U.S. stocks were little changed onFriday as a slide in Amgen dragged down the healthcare sector,offsetting gains in technology shares. The S&P 500 healthcare sector was off 0.4 percent,dragged down by a 6.3 percent drop in Amgen. Analystssaid data from a large study testing the impact of Amgen’scholesterol drug on the heart was weaker than expected. Amgen was also the biggest drag on the broader S&P 500 indexand the Nasdaq. However, ten of the 11 major S&P 500 sectors were higher,with the technology sector up 0.21 percent. Adobe gave the biggest push to the sector, rising6.2 percent after the Photoshop maker’s quarterly results beatanalysts’ expectations. At 9:41 a.m. ET (1341 GMT), the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 13.29 points, or 0.06 percent, at 20,947.84, theS&P 500 was up 1.25 points, or 0.05 percent, at 2,382.63and the Nasdaq Composite was down 1.58 points, or 0.03percent, at 5,899.18. “Today it appears as though we’re going to have another daylike yesterday, where the market is looking for somethingsubstantial to create the next move,” said Andre Bakhos,managing director at Janlyn Capital in Bernardsville, NewJersey. Much of the week’s trading has been predicated on a widelyexpected quarter-point interest rate hike that the FederalReserve delivered on Wednesday. The main indexes are on track to mark slight gains sinceMonday as markets rallied on the Fed’s lesshawkish-than-expected rate hike outlook. Investors are also keeping a close eye on the Group of 20meeting in Germany, where financial leaders and central banksdiscuss the world economy. Tiffany’s shares rose 3 percent to $92.73, after thecompany posted a better-than-expected fourth-quarter profit,boosted by strong demand for its high-end jewelry in Japan andChina. Advancing issues outnumbered decliners on the NYSE by 1,535to 1,050. On the Nasdaq, 1,353 issues fell and 989 advanced. The S&P 500 index showed 39 new 52-week highs and one newlow, while the Nasdaq recorded 64 new highs and 31 new lows. (Reporting by Anya George Tharakan and Yashaswini Swamynathanin Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D’Silva)
December 19, 2024
