Gains in technology stocks prop up Wall Street

By Sweta Singh and Anya George Tharakan

REUTERS - U.S. stocks were slightly up on Monday as gains in technology stocks helped outweigh losses in healthcare.

Five of the 11 major S&P sectors were higher, led by 0.65 percent rise in technology index. Facebook, Microsoft, Apple and Nvidia propped up the S&P 500 index.

The healthcare index was down 0.21 percent, weighed down by Johnson & Johnson and Medtronic.

President Donald Trump's effort to roll back Obamacare faced growing obstacles on Monday as Republicans remained divided over how to curb the costs of their proposed healthcare bill and prevent millions from losing coverage.

"We're going to have to wait and see what the plan B is. With that I think healthcare obviously comes under pressure as it falls into the void of the unknown," said Art Hogan, chief market strategist at Wunderlich Securities in New York.

Investors were wary of making big bets ahead of the start of the earnings season, with big U.S. banks including JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo and Citigroup reporting on Friday.

In a significant victory for the banking industry, the Fed late last month approved plans from the 34 largest U.S. banks to use extra capital for stock buybacks, dividends and other purposes.

"I think that's very reflective of the fact that you've got a market that's looking ahead to catalysts and probably not going to react much in front of them," Hogan said.

"When the market takes a wait-and-see attitude, the markets tend to react like this."

The three major indexes are trading close to record levels, boosted by strong economic data and robust corporate performance in the first quarter.

Markets closed on a high on Friday after a payrolls report gave investors more confidence in the strength of the U.S. economy.

Nonfarm payrolls increased by 222,000 jobs last month, a report by the U.S. Labor Department showed on Friday. It was the second biggest increase this year and topped economists' expectations for a 179,000 gain.

The dollar climbed to a two-month high against the Japanese yen on Monday as a robust jobs data propped up U.S. Treasury yields.

Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen's semi-annual testimony is the key highlight of this week for investors looking for cues on further rate hikes. She will testify on Wednesday and Thursday.

At 11:32 a.m. ET (15:32 GMT) the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 6.42 points, or 0.03 percent, at 21,420.76, the S&P 500 was up 2.77 points, or 0.114218 percent, at 2,427.95 and the Nasdaq Composite was up 11.32 points, or 0.18 percent, at 6,164.40.

United Health was down 0.23 percent at $187.51 after the President Trump's plan to replace Obamacare continued to face obstacles.

Abercrombie & Fitch shares were down 20.6 percent at $9.65 after the teen apparel retailer terminated discussion on a potential deal following a review.

ClubCorp shares were up 30 percent at $17.05 after the owner of private golf and country clubs got a takeover offer from private equity firm Apollo Global Management LLC.

Declining issues outnumbered advancers on the New York Stock Exchange by 1,428 to 1,347. On the Nasdaq, 1,746 issues fell and 922 advanced.

(Reporting by Sweta Singh; Additional reporting by Anya Tharakan in Bengaluru; Editing by Arun Koyyur)