US stocks flat ahead of health vote; Alphabet tumbles

NEW YORK: Wall Street stocks treaded water early Thursday ahead of closely-watched US congressional vote on health care, and as Google parent Alphabet dropped following a move by major companies to pull advertising.

Investors were closely eyeing activity on Capitol Hill, where President Donald Trump and Republican congressional leaders were embroiled in a tough campaign to win support for a controversial health care replacement bill.

The vote is seen as a proxy for Trump's broader pro-growth agenda, including tax cuts, which has boosted Wall Street stocks since the election.

Meanwhile, Google parent Alphabet dropped 1.8 percent as AT&T and Verizon joined a Google ad boycott due to the placement of their ads near content posted by white supremacists and religious extremists.

About 50 minutes into trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was barely higher at 20,665.82.

The broad-based S&P 500 had dipped less than 0.1 percent at 2,348.72, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index lost 0.1 percent to 5,815.41.

Ford dropped 1.8 percent after it said its first quarter earnings would come in well below analysts' expectations, as it projected an industry-wide decline in US and Chinese car sales in 2017.

PVH Corp, which owns the Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger brands, jumped 9.1 percent as it authorized $750 million in new stock repurchases after reporting better-than-expected fourth-quarter earnings.