Health Care, Techs Pull Stocks Lower

NEW YORK (AP) -- U.S. stocks are falling Friday as health care companies skid. Technology companies also slipped as investors continued to sell on news that Senate Republicans want to delay a cut in U.S. corporate taxes by one year. Media companies and retailers gained ground. Stocks have risen for eight weeks in a row, their longest run in almost four years, but that streak is on track to end.

KEEPING SCORE: The Standard & Poor's 500 index lost 7 points, or 0.3 percent, to 2,577 as of 10:10 a.m. Eastern time. The Dow Jones industrial average slid 54 points, or 0.2 percent, to 23,407. The Nasdaq composite gave up 13 points, or 0.2 percent, to 6,736. The Russell 2000 index of smaller-company stocks added 1 point, or 0.1 percent, to 1,476.

The S&P 500 is down about 0.4 percent this week. It's been setting records all year and climbed 5 percent over a winning streak that covered the previous eight weeks.

TAKEN ILL: Health care companies have been falling since late October. On Friday, prescription drug distributor Cardinal Health $1.39, or 2.3 percent, to $59.17 and health care products maker Johnson & Johnson lost $1.67, or 1.2 percent, to $138.68. Medical device maker Medtronic slid $1.48, or 1.8 percent, to $79.33.

Among technology companies, which have soared this year, video gamer maker Activision Blizzard dipped 89 cents, or 1.4 percent, to $62.64 and Microsoft lost 60 cents to $83.49. Software maker Adobe Systems declined $1.64 to $180.28.

RETAIL ROCKETING: J.C. Penney leaped 46 cents, or 16.6 percent, to $3.21 after it said a closely-watched sales measurement grew for the first time in more than a year. The company also took a smaller quarterly loss than analysts had expected. Elsewhere Macy's built on its jump a day ago and added another 34 cents, or 1.7 percent, to $19.84. Competitor Kohl's rose $1.12, or 2.7 percent, to $42.29 and Foot Locker gained 38 cents, or 1.3 percent, to $30.99.

THE FORCE, AND SPORTS: Walt Disney rose $2.47, or 2.4 percent, to $105.15. The entertainment giant said it received bigger payments from cable companies for ESPN and offered more details about its planned sports streaming services. The company also announced plans for another "Star Wars" film trilogy. "Star Wars: The Force Awakens," released in late 2015, grossed about $2 billion and investors also have high hopes for next month's "The Last Jedi."

NewsCorp added 78 cents, or 5.4 percent, to $15.14 after the publisher of The Wall Street Journal and the New York Post reported a bigger profit and more revenue than analysts expected.

CHIPPED IN: Graphics chip maker Nvidia had another strong quarter and Wall Street was pleased with results from the company's data center business. The stock jumped $8.33, or 4.1 percent, to $213.65. It's doubled in value this year.

BONDS: Bond prices slumped. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note rose to 2.38 percent from 2.34 percent.

CURRENCIES: The dollar slipped to 113.21 yen from 113.32 yen. The euro rose to $1.1667 from $1.1643.

ENERGY: Benchmark U.S. crude oil was unchanged at $57.17 a barrel in New York. Brent crude, used to price international oils, rose 9 cents to $64.02 a barrel in London.

OVERSEAS: The FTSE 100 index in Britain fell 0.7 percent. The French CAC 40 and the German DAX both dipped 0.2 percent. Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 index lost 0.8 percent and South Korea's Kospi fell 0.3 percent. In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng dipped less than 0.1 percent.

(BE)