Health Care Up as Risk Appetite Helps Biotech -- Health Care Roundup

Shares of health-care companies rose as traders rotated back into the riskiest niches of the market, such as biotech stocks. Investors are also relieved that the volatility caused by relentless efforts to change the health-care regulatory system will likely be alleviated in 2018.

"We expect modest acceleration in healthcare services and goods inflation through next year as policy-related headwinds ease," said analysts at brokerage Bank of America Merrill Lynch Global Research. "Specifically, hospital inflation will provide most of the support to services inflation, while physician services may face more resistance. The pickup in healthcare inflation, albeit modest, supports higher core inflation in 2018."

--Rob Curran,

rob.curran@dowjones.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

December 15, 2017 16:42 ET (21:42 GMT)