Stock market lifted by health care and energy firms

The S&P 500 Index is up 3.28 points, or 0.30 percent, to trade at 1,106.21 at 3:22 pm.  The Dow Jones Industrial Average is up 22.22 points, or 0.22 percent, to trade at 10,343.25.

At 8:30 am EST, a second estimate of the U.S. fourth quarter GDP was released.  While the revised overall figure was better than what economists had forecasted, a downward revision on the final sales of domestic products indicated that demand was still troubling.

At 10:00 am EST, lower than expected existing homes sales were also reported.

The S&P 500 initially dipped on the reported economic data.  At 10:06 am EST, it was down 5.2 points, or 0.47 percent.  However, S&P 500 components found buyers and the index rallied to trade positive for the day.

Firms involved in health care insurance continue to perform well as President Obama's efforts to revive his health care reform bill this week bore little fruit.  Coventry (NYSE:CVH) is up 2.47 percent, UnitedHealth (NYSE:UNH) is up 1.64 percent, and WellPoint (NYSE:WLP) is up 1.04 percent.

While the GDP report did little to affect the movement of U.S. stocks, energy futures gained.  NYMEX April crude oil futures, which are up 1.73 percent, made most of their gains from 8:30 am EST to 10:30 am EST.

The American Depository Receipts (ADRs) of PetroChina (NYSE:PTR) are up 1.79 percent and those of BP (NYSE:BP) are up 0.83 percent.

The leading component of the Dow is JPMorgan (NYSE:JPM).  The firm held its annual investors day on Thursday.  While its stocks declined with the broad market on Thursday, it is currently trading up 3.76 percent.

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