Health Care Losses Drag Markets Down

Stocks gave up early gains and closed lower on Wall Street on Thursday, led by drops in health care companies.

• The S&P 500 fell 23.51 points, or 0.4%, to 6,339.39.
• The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 330.30 points, or 0.7%, to 44,130.98.
• The Nasdaq composite fell 7.23 points, or less than 0.1%, to 21,122.45.

Health care stocks were the biggest drag on the market after the White House released letters asking big pharmaceutical companies to cut prices and make other changes in the next 60 days, the AP reports. Eli Lilly & Co. fell 2.6%, UnitedHealth Group slid 6.2%, and Bristol-Myers Squibb was 5.9% lower.

Technology stocks rose following results from big companies showcasing advancements in artificial intelligence. Facebook and Instagram's parent company Meta Platforms surged 11.3% after it crushed Wall Street's sales and profit targets even as the company continues to pour billions into artificial intelligence. Microsoft jumped 4% after also posting better results than analysts expected, though it didn't hold on to enough of the day's early gains to remain the world's second $4 trillion company. The software pioneer also gave investors an encouraging update on its Azure cloud computing platform, which is a centerpiece of the company's artificial intelligence efforts.

Wall Street is also monitoring the latest economic data, which included an update on inflation. The Commerce Department said prices rose 2.6% in June compared with a year ago, as measured by the personal consumption expenditures index. That's the Federal Reserve's preferred measure for inflation. The latest reading was slightly higher than economists expected and also marks an increase from an annual pace of 2.4% in May. Also on Thursday, a report showed that the number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits inched up last week.