(Reuters) – U.S. stocks ended a quiet session with modest losses on Thursday, but healthcare stocks rallied after the U.S. Supreme Court upheld tax subsidies key to President Barack Obama’s signature healthcare reform law.
Energy shares drove the day’s weakness, falling alongside crude oil prices, while uncertainty surrounding Greece also limited positive sentiment. Transport stocks .DJT, considered a proxy for economic activity, entered correction territory, closing 10.6 percent below a Dec. 29 closing high.
The S&P 500 healthcare index .SPXHC rose 0.5 percent after the court ruled that the 2010 Affordable Care Act, widely known as Obamacare, did not restrict the subsidies to states that establish their own online healthcare exchanges.
Hospital operators were among the biggest beneficiaries of the ruling, with investors relieved that the growing number of paying customers created by Obamacare would not disappear.