Stocks on Wall Street ended a four-day winning streak as healthcare stocks tumbled after the White House unveiled a $US950 billion healthcare proposal.Energy stocks also slid, with Chevron falling 1.5% and Exxon Mobil down 0.7%. Drugmaker Merck fell 1.6%
Stocks on Wall Street ended a four-day winning streak as healthcare stocks tumbled after the White House unveiled a $US950 billion healthcare proposal.
Energy stocks also slid, with Chevron falling 1.5% and Exxon Mobil down 0.7%. Drugmaker Merck fell 1.6% after the release of President Barack Obama's latest healthcare package involving higher taxes.
Home Depot gained 0.7% after fellow home improvement retailer Lowe's reported a better-than-expected 27% jump in fiscal fourth-quarter earnings.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 18.97 points, or 0.2%, lower at 10,383.38. The Dow's banking components firmed, with Bank of America topping the measure, up 1.3%. JP Morgan added 1.2%.
The S&P 500 finished 0.1% down at 1108.01 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 0.1% to 2242.03.
Other markets
European stocks were mostly lower, as worries over the euroland debt crisis continued to weigh on sentiment.
Gains in the mining sector limited losses, with Vedanta Resources up 2.9% and Eurasian Natural Resources up 2.5%.
The pan-European Dow Jones Stoxx 600 Index was flat at 250.27. London's FTSE 100 index was 0.1% lower at 5354.4, Frankfurt's DAX index was down 0.1% at 5714.46 and the CAC-40 index in Paris was down 0.1% at 3767.41.
Asian shares ended on a strong note as investors snapped up resource shares and exporters.
Japanese exporters contributed handsomely to gains in Tokyo after the US dollar's recent gains against the yen. Sony advanced 3.4%, Toyota Motor added 1.2% and Nikon rose 3.6%.
The Nikkei 225 ended up 2.7% to 10,400.47.
Taiwanese and Chinese markets reopened for trading after a long Chinese New Year holiday, with the Taiex rising 1.6% in Taipei and the Shanghai Composite dropping 0.5%.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index gained 2.4%, South Korea's Kospi added 2.1% and Australia's S&P/ASX 200 advanced 1.8%.
India's Sensex climbed 0.3% and Singapore's Straits Times Index finished flat.
Commodities: Oil up, gold down
Crude futures nudged higher, closing above $US80 a barrel, as traders followed developments in the French refinery workers' strike but remain cautious about flagging oil consumption.
Light, sweet crude for March delivery was 35USc, or 0.4%, higher at $US80.16 a barrel in New York. It touched an intraday high of $US80.51, its highest level in nearly six weeks.
The more actively traded April contract settled at 25USc, or 0.3%, higher at $US80.31 a barrel. Brent crude on the ICE futures exchange ended 44USc, or 0.5%, higher at $US78.61 a barrel.
Gold futures fell as investors pulled the metal down from one-month highs amid a waning tolerance for perceived riskier assets.
April gold was down $US9, or 0.8%, at $US1112.60 an ounce in New York. The contract hit $US1131.50, its highest point since January 20.
Currencies: Euro down, dollar up
The euro fell against the dollar and the yen amid renewed worries over how the European Union will address Greece's debt problems.
The euro dropped back below $US1.36 and hovered around ¥124, after a German finance ministry spokesman said that no decision has been made regarding aid for fiscally stressed Greece.
The euro recently traded at $US1.3593 from $US1.3595 late on Friday after trading as high as $US1.3655.
The dollar was at ¥91.26 from ¥91.63, while the euro was at ¥124.03 from ¥124.56.
The UK pound was at $US1.5486 from $US1.5455.
