US Stock Indexes Hold Steady           06/22 16:03

   U.S. stock indexes held steady Thursday after the price of oil halted its 
slide, at least for now.

   NEW YORK (AP) -- U.S. stock indexes held steady Thursday after the price of 
oil halted its slide, at least for now.

   Energy stocks fell again, but not by nearly as much as earlier in the week, 
after crude rose for the first time in four days. Big gains for health care 
stocks also helped to offset losses for financial companies and other areas of 
the market, leaving indexes close to flat.

   The Standard & Poor's 500 index edged down by 1.11 points, or less than 0.1 
percent, to 2,434.50. The Dow Jones industrial average dipped 12.74, or 0.1 
percent, to 21,397.29, and the Nasdaq composite index rose 2.73 points, or less 
than 0.1 percent, to 6,236.69.

   Markets this week have been dominated by oil's tumbling price and worries 
about how much it will affect the broader market. Benchmark U.S. crude rose 21 
cents to settle at $42.74 per barrel, and Brent crude, the international 
standard, added 40 cents to $45.22 per barrel. It may not sound like much, but 
it's a big shift in momentum from earlier in the week, when oil dropped to its 
lowest level since August on expectations that supplies will exceed demand.

   Energy stocks in the S&P 500 dipped by 0.1 percent, a much milder drop than 
the prior two days, when they fell at least 1.2 percent.

   Helping to support indexes were health care stocks, which have been shooting 
higher this week even as the rest of the market struggled. Health care stocks 
in the S&P 500 jumped 1.1 percent, by far the biggest gain among the 11 sectors 
that make up the index, after the Senate unveiled its proposal to revamp how 
Americans get medical care. The sector is up 3.7 percent for the week when the 
overall index is up just 0.1 percent.

   Envision Healthcare, which provides physician and ambulance services, jumped 
$2.06, or 3.5 percent, to $60.30. HCA Healthcare, which owns hospitals around 
the country, rose $2.09, or 2.5 percent, to $86.14, and biopharmaceutical 
company Gilead Sciences added $2.98, or 4.4 percent, to $70.48.

   Expectations used to be high that big changes coming out of Washington, such 
as lower tax rates, would help businesses make bigger profits and markets to 
rise higher. That's much less the case today.

   "Expectations have gotten so low, as far as what's going to come out of this 
administration," said Jon Adams, senior investment strategist at BMO Global 
Asset Management. "Most think some kind of health reform will get done, but tax 
reform is a coin flip, and the expectation is it will be very, very modest if 
it does get through."

   The stock market has remained resilient, but the "Trump bump" has faded for 
other areas as expectations have waned. Interest rates have dropped, and 
small-cap stocks are lagging behind their larger rivals, for example.

   But that means if a big tax-reform package and other pro-business policies 
do happen, it could mean big gains for markets that don't see them coming, 
Adams said.

   The day's biggest gainer in the S&P 500 was Oracle, which jumped $3.97, or 
8.6 percent, to $50.30 after reporting stronger revenue and earnings for its 
latest quarter than analysts expected. Technology companies are expected to 
report some of the strongest earnings growth for the April-through-June 
quarter, one of the reasons their stocks have been leading the market this year.

   On the opposite end was Accenture, which fell $5.03, or 4 percent, to 
$122.08. The consulting company reported quarterly earnings that were in line 
with analysts' expectations, but it also trimmed the top end of its forecast 
for revenue growth this year, when taking changes in foreign-currency values 
into account.

   The 10-year Treasury yield held steady at 2.15 percent, while the two-year 
yield fell to 1.34 percent from 1.35 percent late Wednesday, and the 30-year 
yield dipped to 2.72 percent from 2.73 percent.

   The euro fell to $1.1147 from $1.1167 late Wednesday, and the British pound 
dipped to $1.2672 from $1.2668. The dollar held steady at 111.34 Japanese yen.

   In overseas stock markets, the French CAC 40 rose 0.1 percent, the German 
DAX rose 0.2 percent and the FTSE 100 in London lost 0.1 percent. Japan's 
Nikkei 225 index slipped 0.1 percent, South Korea's Kospi added 0.5 percent and 
the Hang Seng in Hong Kong slipped 0.1 percent.

   Gold rose $3.60 to $1,249.40 per ounce, silver added 14 cents to $16.51 and 
copper was flat at $2.60 per pound.

   Natural gas was close to flat at $2.89 per 1,000 cubic feet, heating oil 
rose 1 cent to $1.37 per gallon and wholesale gasoline added 2 cents to $1.43 
per gallon. 


(KA)