Healthcare, tech stocks drive Wall Street higher

By Yashaswini Swamynathan
REUTERS – Wall Street opened higher on Thursday as a flurry of strong corporate results from healthcare companies and a multi-billion dollar deal in the technology sector boosted sentiment about equity markets.
Profits at S&P 500 companies have largely exceeded analysts’ estimates for the third quarter so far, setting up for the first profit growth since the second quarter of 2015.
Overall earnings for the S&P 500 companies in the latest quarter are