US stocks were little changed in choppy trade on Friday as a brokerages upgrade of Merck boosted healthcare stocks but profit-taking weighed on financials and big-cap technology shares. Merck shares were the top boost to the Dow industrials, up nearly 11 percent after Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded the drug makers stock to "outperform."
Earlier the market was underpinned by comments from Citigroups chairman Richard Parsons to Reuters late on Thursday that the bank did not need any more government aid, sending its stock up more than 7 percent. The Dow Jones industrial average gained 9.87 points, or 0.14 percent, to 7,179.93. The Standard & Poors 500 Index rose 0.13 points, or 0.02 percent, to 750.87. The Nasdaq Composite Index dropped 4.81 points, or 0.34 percent, to 1,421.29.
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