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* Microsoft gains on $40 bln share buyback plan
* Healthcare stocks among top boosts to S&P 500
* U.S.-China low-level trade talks resume on Thursday
* Indexes end: Dow -0.19%, S&P 500 flat, Nasdaq +0.07%
(Updates to close)
By Noel Randewich
Sept 19 (Reuters) - Wall Street ended mixed on Thursday,
with a gain in Microsoft offsetting a dip in Apple, a day after
the Federal Reserve cut interest rates as expected and left the
door open for further monetary easing.
Microsoft MSFT.O rose 1.8% after unveiling a $40 billion
stock buyback plan, while Apple AAPL.O declined 0.8% and the
S&P 500 ended virtually unchanged.
The S&P 500 was than less than 1% below its closing record
high hit in July as investors became more optimistic about the
resumption of talks between the United States and China aimed at
laying the groundwork for high-level trade negotiations in early
October. A recent easing in trade tensions has
helped the three main indexes recover from losses from August.
"There has been slightly more constructiveness lately, but
if there is any sort of agreement it will be a very light,
mini-deal, because the U.S. and China are still very far apart
on the main issues," warned Ben Phillips, chief investment
officer at EventShares.
The S&P 500 healthcare index .SPXHC climbed 0.5% after
U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi released a
proposal on drug pricing policy.
While the plan is a "big negative" for drugmakers, the stock
reaction has already been priced in to some degree, said Thomas
Martin, senior portfolio manager at GLOBALT Investments.
Of 11 sector indexes, healthcare is the worst performer so
far in 2019, with a gain of 6%.
Expectations of another rate cut by the Fed, following the
U.S. central bank's 25-basis-point reduction on Wednesday, also
drove sentiment. The Fed, in announcing its second
quarter-percentage-point cut this year, said future reductions
would be "largely data-dependent."