Wall Street ends mostly up, led by health-care stocks

By Ovunc Kutlu

NEW YORK (AA) – U.S. stocks ended mostly higher Tuesday, driven by strong earnings for health-care companies as key macroeconomic data failed to impress investors.

UnitedHealth closed up 5.5 percent after the company reported a stronger-than- expected profit while Johnson & Johnson rose 3.4 percent after also posting better-than-expected results.

Industrial production rose 0.3 percent on month in September, according to the U.S. Federal Reserve.

The data was in line with expectations and marked the first monthly increase in the past three months.

But manufacturing production rose only 0.1 percent, with the market expecting a 0.2 percent increase.

At the final bell, the Dow added 40 points to close at 22,997 -- a new record high. During trading hours, the index climbed above 23,000 for the first time in history.

The S&P rose around 1 point to end at 2,559.

The Nasdaq, however, lost less than 1 point to finish flat at 6,623.