NEW YORK — U.S. stocks moved slightly higher on Wall Street in late morning trading Tuesday, led technology and health care stocks.
The modest gains follow a rally on Monday that snapped a five-day losing streak. Boeing weighed down the Dow Jones Industrial Average for a second day as the airplane maker falls amid safety concerns following another deadly crash involving its most popular plane.
Google’s parent company Alphabet rose 1.8 per cent and Botox maker Allergan rose 2.7 per cent.
Boeing dragged down the industrial sector. Utilities and real estate stocks also lagged the market.
KEEPING SCORE: The Dow fell 86 points, or 0.3 per cent, to 25,564 as of 11:20 a.m. The S&P 500 index and the Nasdaq each rose 0.3 per cent.
BOEING GROUNDED: The airplane maker faced a second day of losses as more countries grounded its 737 Max 8 following a second deadly crash. The stock fell 5.7 per cent.
Britain joined a growing number of countries to ground the plane. Australia and Singapore suspended all flights into or out of their countries. Airlines in China and Indonesia, Aeromexico, Brazil’s Gol Airlines, India’s Jet Airways and others have done the same.
The crash of the Ethiopian Airlines 737 Max 8 on Sunday killed 157 people. A similar Lion Air plane crashed in Indonesia in October, killing 189 people.
STYLISH NUMBERS: Personal styling service Stitch Fix surged 25 per cent after blowing past analyst’s expectations for the fourth-quarter.
The company, which sells clothing and apparel through its website, earned 12 cents per share while analysts expected 5 cents per share. It recorded an 18 per cent increase in clients during the quarter and expects up to a 27 per cent rise in revenue this year.
BAD SPORT: Dick’s Sporting Goods’ plunged 12 per cent after the company reported a slide in sales during the fourth quarter and a weak forecast. A key sales figure fell 2.2 per cent in the period, worse than what analysts were expecting.
OVERSEAS: Stocks in Europe were mixed over investor concerns that Britain faces a messy exit from the European Union.
Britain is set to leave the 27-member European Union on March 29. The House of Commons is scheduled to vote on a deal later Tuesday. But Attorney General Geoffrey Cox dealt a blow to the recent proposed deal with a legal opinion. The two-page opinion said the U.K. could still not extract itself from the deal unilaterally.