(Reuters) - Wall Street dipped on Monday afternoon, reversing gains from earlier in the session, weighed down by healthcare stocks, while surging oil prices added to worries about rising costs for companies.
Oil prices rallied after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Iran had lied about not pursuing nuclear weapons and had continued to preserve and expand its nuclear weapons knowledge after signing a 2015 deal with global powers.
U.S. President Donald Trump has until May 12 to decide whether to restore sanctions on Iran that were lifted after a 2015 international agreement over its nuclear program.
Oil has risen this month to the highest since late 2014, driven by concerns over potential disruptions to Iranian crude flows, but analysts said the market is extremely sensitive to any developments on the nuclear deal and sanctions due to the high degree of uncertainty. [O/R]
The energy index .SPNY rallied 0.8 percent, with seven other S&P sectors in the red and three up 0.05 percent or less.
“You get a move in oil stocks, that’s moving the index,” said Rick Meckler, president of investment firm LibertyView Capital Management in Jersey City, New Jersey.
The industrials sector .SPLRCI, already under pressure after some marquee names warned of rising costs, was down 0.8 percent.
Arconic (ARNC.N) fell 19.8 percent after the aluminum products maker slashed its 2018 forecasts.
At 14:03 ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI was down 12.42 points, or 0.05 percent, at 24,298.77, the S&P 500 .SPX was down 8.31 points, or 0.31 percent, at 2,661.60 and the Nasdaq Composite
