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Shortly after 1430 GMT, the blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.1 percent at 19,863.66 while the broader S&P 500 and tech-heavy Nasdaq both moved less than a tenth of a percentage point into positive territory at 2,259.63 and 5,440.75 respectively.
Drugmaker Merck fell 1.0 percent after being downgraded by the investment firm Jeffries. Fellow pharma giants Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson were edging upwards, with Pfizer gaining less than 0.1 percent and J&J adding 0.2 percent.
Media powerhouse Walt Disney rose 1.8 percent, getting a shot in the arm after being added to the US 1 list of recommended stocks at Bank of America-Merrill Lynch.