New York – Dow Cracks 23,000 Mark For The First Time

New York – The Dow Jones Industrial Average breached the 23,000 mark for the first time on Tuesday led by more than 5 percent gain in UnitedHealth.

The broader market however was weighed down by losses in industrial, financial and technology stocks.

Shares of the largest U.S. health insurer <UNH.N> touched a record high after the company reported a stronger-than-expected profit and raised its full-year earnings forecast.

That, along with a 2.4 percent rise in Johnson & Johnson <JNJ.N>, led a 0.92 percent gain in the S&P healthcare sector <.SPXHC>.

Goldman Sachs <GS.N> dipped 1 percent despite reporting a profit beat and smaller-than-expected trading revenue fall. Morgan Stanley <MS.N> rose 1.4 percent as wealth management business insulated the bank from weakness in trading revenue.

“There was some good earnings, real good economic data in spite of the hurricanes,” said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at First Standard Financial in New York.

“We’re not seeing a market that’s galloping along here. The market from a technical perspective is tired. What you’re seeing is some hesitancy but not any major declines.”

U.S. Treasury yields rose after strongest reading on import prices in more than a year pushed inflation expectations higher.

Also supporting the yields was a report that U.S. President Donald Trump was impressed by his meeting with economist John Taylor, who is considered to favor higher interest rates than current Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen.

At 11:11 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average <.DJI> was up 40.93 points, or 0.18 percent, at 22,997.89, the S&P 500 <.SPX> was up 0.4 points, or 0.015639 percent, at 2,558.04 and the Nasdaq Composite <.IXIC> was up 2.90 points, or 0.04 percent, at 6,626.90.

General Electric’s <GE.N> 1.15 percent fall led losses in the industrial sector, while drop in shares of Microsoft <MSFT.O> and Intel <INTC.O> weighed on the tech sector. Seven of the 11 major S&P indexes were lower, led by a 0.39 percent drop in industrials <.SPLRCI> and material index <.SPLRCM>.

Netflix <NFLX.O> slipped 1.15 percent after touching a record high as more subscribers signed up for its popular original content in the latest quarter.

Declining issues outnumbered advancers on the NYSE by 1,502 to 1,205. On the Nasdaq, 1,383 issues fell and 1,311 advanced.