By Sam Forgione
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Wall Street fell modestly on Monday following healthcare stocks, but European shares and the euro advanced on optimism over talks between Greece and its lenders after Greece reshuffled its negotiating team.
The S&P Healthcare index <.SPXHC> was last down 1.28 percent, with a 3-percent drop in Amgen
MSCI's all-country world stock index pared gains after touching an intraday record high earlier in the session.
European shares closed up about 1 percent after Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras reshuffled his team handling the talks with European and IMF lenders. The move was widely seen as an effort to relegate the brash, anti-austerity Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis to a less active role in negotiations, possibly smoothing the way to progress in negotiations with lenders. Concerns over Greece have mounted since the country looks set to run out of cash in coming weeks.
"The well was so poisoned there that getting someone fresh in there from a negotiation perspective might lead to more breakthroughs, I think, is what the market's hoping for," said Chris Konstantinos, head of international portfolio management at RiverFront Investment Group in Richmond, Virginia.
Market participants awaited the release of Apple's
Investors were also cautious ahead of a Federal Reserve policy meeting which ends on Wednesday.
The Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> was last down 4.27 points, or 0.02 percent, to 18,075.87. The S&P 500 <.SPX> was down 4.01 points, or 0.19 percent, to 2,113.68. The Nasdaq Composite <.IXIC> was off 24.46 points, or 0.48 percent, to 5,067.63.
MSCI's all-country world stock index <.MIWD00000PUS>, which tracks shares in 45 countries, was last up 1.15 points or 0.26 percent, to 442.72 after earlier hitting a record high of 443.98. The index was helped by Chinese shares reaching seven-year highs.
The FTSEurofirst 300 index <.FTEU3> closed up 0.97 percent at 1,642.69.
The euro hit $1.09270 >, its highest against the dollar since April 7, on optimism over Greece's prospects for progress in talks with lenders after the reshuffle of the country's negotiating team.
Benchmark U.S. Treasuries prices were mostly flat, with traders reluctant to make big bets ahead of the two-day Fed meeting. The meeting, which begins Tuesday, will be watched for signs of how soon the central bank will hike rates from rock-bottom levels, though the expectation is for little news out of this Fed gathering.
"I expect the Fed to do nothing. I don't think the data are there for them to be tweaking things," said Brian Rehling, chief fixed-income strategist at Wells Fargo Advisors in St. Louis.
Oil futures seesawed, with ample global supply keeping market participants cautious after prices reached 2015 peaks last week. U.S. crude
Spot gold prices > rose $24.04 to $1,202.91 an ounce.
(Additional reporting by Nigel Stephenson in London and Robert Gibbons, Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss and Richard Leong in New York; Editing by Nick Zieminski and Bernadette Baum)
