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Stocks Sputter While Facebook Climbs Past Its Buy Point

The major indexes remained little changed in afternoon trading Tuesday, another dull session that nonetheless saw widely held Facebook (FB) top a buy point.

X The Dow Jones industrial average was up 0.1% while the Nasdaq composite and S&P 500 were down a fraction. The Russell 2000 was flat.

Volume was running slightly lower compared with the same time Monday. Decliners led advancers by 7-to-5 on the Nasdaq and by 6-to-5 on the NYSE.

Goldman Sachs (GS) was the weakest Dow component, off 2% after the bank's quarterly results came in above consensus estimates.

Health care, retail and other consumer stocks led today's trading. Managed health care was the top industry group as UnitedHealth Group (UNH) rallied 5.5% after the HMO beat profit expectations. UnitedHealth also indicated a willingness to partner with Amazon.com (AMZN) if the online retailer makes a push into the prescription-dispensing business.

Centene (CNC), a managed-care company that's in the IBD 50, rose nearly 2% as it continues to rally back. The stock slid below the 50-day moving average Friday but made a positive reversal that carried on to this week's advance. Shares also have recovered above the 88.04 buy point of a flat base.

Centene and other health insurance stocks were roiled Friday on news that President Trump would end subsidies for ObamaCare coverage as part of a series of modifications to the program.

Facebook climbed above the 175.59 buy point of a flat base in volume about 25% above average. Both the price and volume increases were unimpressive, but investors have a chance to study the stock while it remains in buy range to 188.57. Facebook reports third-quarter earnings Nov. 1 after the close.

Netflix (NFLX), another FANG stock and institutional favorite, fell 2% in heavy trading. The stock slipped back into the buy range from its 190.05 buy point and today's loss does not harm that entry.

The video streaming company reported mixed results late Monday, and a number of analysts responded with higher price targets on Netflix shares. Analysts cheered the company's 5.3 million net new streaming subscribers in Q3, which beat estimates of 4.5 million.

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