Wall Street ends flat as health bill passes

Wall Street ended flat on Thursday as a steep fall for the energy sector countered some solid earnings reports, with major stock indexes closing little changed after the U.S. House of Representatives passed a health care bill.

The House on Thursday afternoon narrowly voted to repeal major portions of the 2010 Affordable Care Act and replace it with a Republican health care plan, sending it to the Senate for consideration.

The bill's passage comes after House Republicans pulled health care legislation earlier this year in a setback, raising questions among investors about President Donald Trump's ability to enact his agenda.

The benchmark S&P 500 has gained 11.7 percent since Trump's election, fueled by his plans for tax cuts, infrastructure spending and deregulation.

'The real risk in the near term to the so-called Trump rally was a failure to pass it,” said Rick Meckler, president of LibertyView Capital Management in Jersey City, N.J.

'I don't know if this market is really that focused on health care as the big issue,” Meckler said. 'I think they're really focused on the tax plan. If they couldn't pass the health care, it would bode very poorly for the tax plan.”

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 6.43 points, or 0.03 percent, to 20,951.47, the S&P 500 gained 1.39 points, or 0.06 percent, to 2,389.52 and the Nasdaq Composite added 2.79 points, or 0.05 percent, to 6,075.34.

The energy sector dropped 1.9 percent, easily the worst performing group. Exxon Mobil's 1.3-percent decline and Chevron's 1.8 percent drop weighed on the S&P.

Oil prices tumbled about five percent on signs that OPEC and other producing countries would not take more drastic steps to reduce the world's stubbornly persistent glut of crude.

Investors also were digesting the Federal Reserve's statement on Wednesday. The central bank left rates unchanged but downplayed weak first-quarter economic growth while emphasizing the strong labor market, in a sign it was still on track for two more rate rises this year.