Robust stock market closed higher on Wednesday after U.S. stocks edged down Thursday, led by the medical sector. Merck drug trial setback caused its stock price down substantially broader market under pressure. But Spain and Italy, the news of a successful auction of bonds to some extent, boosted market sentiment.
EST at 16:00 on January 13, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 23.54 points to close at 11,731.90 points, down 0.20%; the Nasdaq composite index fell 2.04 points to close at 2,735.29 points, down 0.07%; the S & P 500 index fell 2.20 points to close at 1,283.76 points, down 0.17%.
Merck (MRK) to become the largest decline in the Dow stocks, after the company announced the end of the candidate's research and development of heart drugs vorapaxar. However, Merck will continue to study the drug in heart disease or heart attack than patients in the application. The news that the company's most important mode of one of the drugs vorapaxar reserve cast a shadow over the prospects. Merck shares fell by the impact of generally lower share prices of other medical companies.