Wall Street gains ground on healthcare stocks rally, oil retreat

Wall Street’s main indexes moved higher on Tuesday as a surge in healthcare stocks and softer oil prices boosted risk appetite, building on a recovery from last week’s technology-led selloff.

Brent crude prices slipped 1.1% after touching a five-month high in a choppy session as traders weighed Houthi attacks on Saudi infrastructure and reports of vessel attacks in the Gulf.

Most S&P 500 sectors gained, with healthcare hitting an all-time high. The gains were led by large-cap drugmakers, including Eli Lilly’s 4.7% jump to a record high. Amgen, Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson and AbbVie were also up more than 2% each.

The financial index also gained 1.2%.

Energy, however, led the losses, while an about 2% decline in Meta Platforms pulled the communication services sector down.

The market extended Monday’s rebound, when investors bought the dip in technology stocks following last week’s bruising selloff, fueled in part by concerns over CoreWeave’s debt load and the cost of financing the AI buildout.

AI-related shares were flat to higher on Tuesday, after early weakness in premarket trading. CoreWeave was last up 2.5%, while chip gauge Philadelphia Semiconductor index rose 0.7%.

“You’re seeing some strength in some high-value stocks and the Dow, and so that’s helping to sort of lift the overall indexes,” said Robert Pavlik, senior portfolio manager at Dakota Wealth.

“Concerns about what’s going on as far as semiconductors, that’s still there, but for the most part, the rest of the market is seeing a bit of a nice rebound.”

Elsewhere, shares of South Korean AI infrastructure company Elice Group tumbled nearly 30% in their market debut, slipping below their IPO price after the company raised 201.1 billion won ($151.12 million) in its offering.

At 12:06 p.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 502.03 points, or 0.97%, to 52,468.06. The S&P 500 gained 32.33 points, or 0.42%, to 7,723.06, while the Nasdaq Composite advanced 58.72 points, or 0.22%, to 26,489.60.

Investors are now closely watching this week’s corporate earnings for clues on whether companies can maintain strong growth in the face of mounting macroeconomic risks.

Quarterly results from SpaceX and Netflix are due after the market close on Tuesday, while heavyweights Meta and Tesla are scheduled to report on Wednesday.

Steel Dynamics fell 1.4% after the steelmaker missed third-quarter profit estimates.

General Motors shares dropped 6.9% after the automaker signaled pressure in coming months from higher commodity costs and lower truck sales.

3M gained 5% after the company said it was expanding its data-center partnership with Amazon, and issued a warrant to an Amazon subsidiary to purchase 3M common stock worth over $521 million. The industrial conglomerate also raised its full-year profit forecast on Tuesday.

Credit reporting firm Equifax jumped 11.4% after it reported third-quarter profit above analysts’ estimates.

Hasbro gained 5.6% after the toymaker raised full-year forecast for both overall revenue and its digital gaming business.

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 2.51-to-1 ratio on the NYSE and by 2.78-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.

The S&P 500 posted 21 new 52-week highs and one new low, while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 32 new highs and 204 new lows.