NEW YORK — Modest gains for technology companies have helped U.S. stocks recover almost all of an early loss Thursday. Major indexes are little changed as banks fall along with interest rates and weak first-quarter results hit several health care companies. Tesla is skidding after the electric car maker posted another big loss, and Wall Street reacted negatively to comments by CEO Elon Musk.
KEEPING SCORE: The S&P 500 index was unchanged at 2,636 as of 2:30 p.m. Eastern time. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 61 points, or 0.3 percent, to 23,986, mostly thanks to a gain for Boeing. In the morning it lost as much as 393 points.
The Nasdaq composite added 10 points, or 0.2 percent, to 7,111 as Microsoft and Cisco Systems led technology companies to small gains. The Russell 2000 index of smaller-company stocks slid 3 points, or 0.2 percent, to 1,551.
Stocks slumped late Wednesday after the Federal Reserve left interest rates unchanged. The Fed expects to keep raising interest rates to keep inflation under control, and investors appeared to get more concerned about the possibility that rising rates will slow the economy down.
FINANCIALS FLATTENED: American International Group dropped 5.8 percent to $51.65 after its first-quarter profit fell short of analysts’ estimates.
Meanwhile banks fell in tandem with interest rates as bond prices climbed. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell to 2.94 percent from 2.97 percent. Lower bond yields mean banks can’t make as much money from lending.
HEALTH STOCKS QUEASY: Cardinal Health, which distributes prescription drugs, also had a smaller-than-expected profit and slashed its forecast for the rest of the year. Cardinal said its Cordis cardiovascular products business ran into supply chain problems and also paid a higher expected tax rate. The stock gave up 18.9 percent to $52.44.
Medical device maker Hologic dropped 8.5 percent to $36.27 after it wrote down the value of its Cynosure business by about $732 million. It bought Cynosure for $1.57 billion a year ago. Health care information technology company Cerner reported weak revenue and gave a disappointing quarterly forecast. It fell 5.3 percent to $55.89.
