Wall Street rose on Thursday after consumer spending recorded its largest increase in nearly six years and the U.S. Supreme Court backed Obamacare, boosting healthcare stocks.
The S&P 500 healthcare index rallied as much as 0.85 percent after the Supreme Court upheld the nationwide availability of tax subsidies for the implementation of President Obama 's signature healthcare law.
The healthcare sector was 15.1 percent of the S&P 500 as of May 29.
U.S. hospital operators' shares rallied broadly while health insurers also gained.
Among hospitals, shares of HCA Holdings rose 8.6 percent to $90.46 while shares of Community Health Systems were up 9.3 percent at $60.44 and shares of Tenet Healthcare were up 8.2 percent at $54.08.
ADVERTISEMENT
Among insurers, Aetna was up 1 percent at $128.75.
The Commerce Department said consumer spending increased 0.9 percent last month, the biggest gain since August 2009, after a 0.1 percent rise in April. Personal income increased 0.5 percent last month after a similar gain in April.
Weekly jobless claims rose 3,000 to a seasonally adjusted 271,000 for the week ended June 20 but labor market conditions continued to tighten.
At 10:42 a.m. ET the Dow Jones industrial average was up 9.67 points, or 0.05 percent, at 17,975.74, the S&P 500 was up 2.5 points, or 0.12 percent, at 2,111.08 and the Nasdaq Composite was up 5.16 points, or 0.1 percent, at 5,127.57.
Declining issues outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE by 1,652 to 1,187, for a 1.39-to-1 ratio on the downside. On the Nasdaq, 1,319 issues fell and 1,183 advanced for a 1.11-to-1 ratio favoring decliners.
The S&P 500 index showed 11 new 52-week highs and 10 new lows, while the Nasdaq recorded 59 new highs and 15 new lows.
