(For a live blog on the U.S. stock market, click LIVE/ or
type LIVE/ in a news window)
* Healthcare, real estate weigh on S&P 500
* Boeing props up Dow Industrials
* Adobe top boost to Nasdaq
* ISM data shows upbeat business activity in October
* Indexes: Dow up 0.20%, S&P flat, Nasdaq rises 0.14%
(Changes comment, updates to early afternoon)
By Arjun Panchadar
Nov 5 (Reuters) - The S&P 500 took a breather on Tuesday
after expectations of a U.S.-China trade deal propelled the
three main U.S. stock indexes to record highs in the previous
session.
The benchmark index and Nasdaq have risen in seven of the
past 10 sessions. Losses in the S&P 500 healthcare .SPXHC and
real estate .SPLRCR more than offset gains in financials
.SPSY . Four of the 11 major S&P 500 sectors were lower.
China is pushing President Donald Trump to remove more
tariffs as part of the "phase one" deal, which may be signed
this month, according to latest reports. Apart from hopes of a resolution to the trade war, a largely
better-than-expected third-quarter earnings season, the Federal
Reserve's interest rate cut and an upbeat October jobs report
last week have fueled the recent Wall Street rally.
The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq closed at record highs for the
second consecutive session on Monday, while the Dow hit a record
high for the first time since July.
"The market reacted strongly to the economic news last week,
it reached new highs and you run into a little bit of resistance
and you get some weakness in healthcare," said Robert Pavlik,
chief investment strategist at SlateStone Wealth LLC in New
York.
"It causes some profit taking and that's all we have right
now."
Over three quarters of the S&P 500 companies that have
reported results so far have beaten profit expectations,
Refinitiv data showed.
Further easing concerns of a slowdown in the domestic
economy, data on Tuesday showed reading on the ISM services
index improved to 54.7 in October from 52.6 in September, above
expectations of 53.4, according to economists polled by Reuters.
A 2.3% rise in Boeing Co's BA.N shares provided the
biggest boost to the blue-chip Dow Jones index after Chairman
Dave Calhoun said the company's board believed CEO Dennis
Muilenburg "has done everything right" following two fatal
crashes involving its 737 MAX jet. Helping the Nasdaq advance was Adobe Inc ADBE.O , which
gained 3.8% as the Photoshop software maker raised its
fourth-quarter digital media annualized recurring revenue target
and gave a strong forecast for fiscal 2020. At 12:58 p.m. ET the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI was
up 54.98 points, or 0.20%, at 27,517.09, the S&P 500 .SPX was
down 0.87 points, or 0.03%, at 3,077.40 and the Nasdaq Composite
.IXIC was up 11.49 points, or 0.14%, at 8,444.69.
Among other stocks, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc REGN.O
jumped 9.5% after the drugmaker beat quarterly profit estimates.
Kroger Co KR.N surged about 11% after the supermarket
chain forecast 2020 profit and comparable sales ahead of Wall
Street estimates. Uber Technologies Inc UBER.N fell 8.8% as the ride-hailing
service posted a bigger third-quarter loss. Declining issues outnumbered advancers for a 1.17-to-1 ratio
on the NYSE. Advancing issues outnumbered decliners for a
1.20-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P index recorded 57 new 52-week highs and no new lows,
while the Nasdaq recorded 137 new highs and 29 new lows.