Wall St. little changed; health stocks rally

(Reuters) - Healthcare stocks surged after the U.S. Supreme Court upheld tax subsidies key to Obamacare but the broader market was little changed in afternoon trading as concerns over the Greece debt crisis weighed.

The S&P 500 healthcare index <.SPXHC> rallied as much as 0.91 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.

The index, which is up 11.3 percent for the year, constituted 15.1 percent of the S&P 500 as of May 29.

UnitedHealth Group jumped as much as 2.5 percent to $122.13 and was the biggest boost to the Dow.

Among hospital operators, shares of Community Health Systems were up 12.6 percent at $62.28 after touching a record high of $63.36, while shares of HCA Holdings rose 8.6 percent to $90.55 and Tenet Healthcare jumped 14.5 percent to $57.41.

"We like healthcare stocks. Even if the economy were to dip a little bit, healthcare stocks won't be as affected as other sectors like travel and consumer," said Jeff Carbone, co-founder and Managing Partner of Cornerstone Financial Partners.

"We are cautious on biotech but like hospital operators even though their valuations are on the higher side."

The S&P 500 healthcare sector trades at 24.3 times analysts' estimates of future earnings, while the S&P 500's forward P/E is at 17.6, according to Thomson Reuters data.

At 13:16 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> was up 11.07 points, or 0.06 percent, at 17,977.14, the S&P 500 <.SPX> was up 2.65 points, or 0.13 percent, at 2,111.23 and the Nasdaq Composite <.IXIC> was up 7.19 points, or 0.14 percent, at 5,129.60.

Wall Street continued to take cues from the ongoing Greek debt crisis as the country failed again to clinch a deal with its international creditors, setting up a last-ditch effort on Saturday to avert a default next week.

Euro zone finance ministers ended their third meeting in a week without agreement after the three creditor institutions put a final cash-for-reform proposal on the table in a showdown with Athens's leftist government.

Investors have also been keeping a sharp eye on economic data for signs of a recovery in the U.S. economy, which came to a crawl in the first quarter, as the Federal Reserve prepares to raise interest rates for the first time in almost a decade.

The Commerce Department said consumer spending increased 0.9 percent last month, the biggest gain since August 2009, after a 0.1 percent rise in April. Personal income increased 0.5 percent last month after a similar gain in April.

Weekly jobless claims rose 3,000 to a seasonally adjusted 271,000 for the week ended June 20 but labor market conditions continued to tighten.

IAC/Interactive shares jumped as much as 6.7 percent to $82.40 - a record high - after the company said it planned to list its dating business, which includes Match.com and mobile app Tinder.

Declining issues outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE by 1,789 to 1,197. On the Nasdaq, 1,336 issues rose and 1,333 fell.

The S&P 500 index showed 15 new 52-week highs and 11 new lows, while the Nasdaq recorded 101 new highs and 28 new lows.

(Additional reporting by Amrutha Penumudi; Editing by Don Sebastian)

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