US stocks fell in choppy trading on Thursday as a sanctions confrontation between Russia and the West kept traders eager to cash any gains. The S&P 500 had risen as much as 0.45 percent on the back of some strong earnings and a surprise tick lower in applications for unemployment insurance, before selling off to trade below its 100-day moving average for a second consecutive session. It has closed below that level just four times this year, the last one in mid April.
The Dow Jones industrial average fell 68.62 points or 0.42 percent, to 16,374.72, the S&P 500 lost 8.33 points or 0.43 percent, to 1,911.91 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 11.15 points or 0.26 percent, to 4,343.90. Health insurer stocks fell after Goldman Sachs downgraded Aetna to neutral and cut earnings estimates on a number of its larger peers. Aetna shares fell 3 percent to $75.97. The S&P managed healthcare index fell 2.7 percent.
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