New York — US-driven trade confrontations hurt world stock markets, and US and German debt yields on Thursday, while Wall Street felt the additional brunt of a slump in health sector shares. Wall Street opened lower amid Amazon’s announcement that it would buy online pharmacy PillPack, moving the e-commerce giant further into the health space. The news sent shares of drug distributors and retailers plummeting. The S&P health sector index dropped 0.73%, the most among the 11 S&P sectors, while Amazon gained 0.8%. The biggest losses include a 10.5% drop in Walgreens Boots Alliance, a 9.3% tumble in CVS Health, and a 10.1% fall in Rite Aid shares. Still, gains in financial and technology shares helped US stock indices remain largely flat. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 12.45 points, or 0.05%, to 24,105.14; the S&P 500 gained 1.52 points, or 0.06%, to 2,701.15; and the Nasdaq Composite added 10.90 points, or 0.15%, to 7,455.99. An escalating trade fight between the US and its maj...
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