Healthcare, consumer stocks help Wall Street reverse course

Wall Street reversed course to trade higher on Wednesday, helped by healthcare and consumer discretionary stocks.

A recovery in oil prices and strong U.S. services data also helped alleviate some investor concerns about a potential global economic slowdown. [O/R]

U.S. services industry activity hit a seven-month high in June as new orders surged and companies hired more workers, suggesting the economy regained speed in the second quarter.

“The selloff last week was an over reaction and the attempted rally was too fast and furious,” said Art Hogan, chief market strategist at Wunderlich Equity Capital Markets.

“I think the compression of time and speed of the markets causes the pendulum to swing too far on every move we make.”

The markets had been reeling under Brexit-related worries, leading investors to safe havens assets. Gold rallied to a more than two-year high, while the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury yield US10YT=RR touched a record low.

However, officials across the globe have been quick to assure the markets.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Brexit would have limited impact on the country’s economy, while U.S. Federal Reserve Governor Daniel Tarullo said world financial markets are well prepared for the impact.

The Fed will release the minutes of its June meeting at 2:00 p.m. ET (1800 GMT). Traders will peruse the comments for clues on what the central bank thought the impact of Brexit would be.

At 12:21 p.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 33.43 points, or 0.19 percent, at 17,874.05.

The S&P 500 was up 5.86 points, or 0.28 percent, at 2,094.41.

The Nasdaq Composite was up 30.20 points, or 0.63 percent, at 4,853.11.

Four of the 10 major S&P indexes were higher, led by a 0.97 percent rise in healthcare .SPXHC. Celgene’s 4 percent rise to $104.33 was its biggest influencer.

Amazon.com and Home Depot rose about a percent and helped the consumer discretionary index .SPLRCD clock in a 0.49 percent gain.

Facebook rose 1.5 percent to $115.73 and provided the biggest boost to the Nasdaq and the S&P.

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners on the NYSE by 1,591 to 1,299. On the Nasdaq, 1,650 issues rose and 1,074 fell.

The S&P 500 index showed 48 new 52-week highs and 3 new lows, while the Nasdaq recorded 47 new highs and 44 new lows.