* Healthcare stocks drop after Clinton comments
* Gloomy earnings weigh on European shares
* Oil slumps after build in U.S. crude inventories
(Adds U.S. markets open, changes dateline, previous LONDON)
By Sam Forgione
NEW YORK, Oct 21 (Reuters) - Stock indexes worldwide were
little changed on Wednesday, with a tumble in healthcare stocks
weighing on U.S. shares, while oil prices slumped after a build
in U.S. crude inventories added to worries about oversupply.
Healthcare insurers slumped after Democratic presidential
candidate Hillary Clinton said she has "serious concerns" about
health insurer Aetna (N:AET) Inc's AET.N plan to acquire Humana Inc (N:HUM)
HUM.N and Anthem Inc's ANTM.N proposal to buy Cigna Corp (N:CI)
CI.N . The S&P healthcare index .SPXHC was last down 0.7
percent. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N12L0XG
Shares of Valeant VRX.N tumbled by nearly 28 percent after
a short-seller released a report critical of the company,
causing the stock to be temporarily halted due to the decline.
urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N12L19L
Gloomy quarterly reports dragged on European shares, while
confidence over a positive close to the year and continued
central bank support ahead of a European Central Bank meeting on
Thursday capped losses. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL8N12L3XR
"During the course of the third quarter, we actually saw
consensus estimates drop for both revenue and earnings," said
Eric Weigand, senior portfolio manager at the Private Client
Reserve at U.S. Bank.
"You could make the point that there is a low hurdle for
companies to exceed on these diminished expectations."
Chinese bourses gave up earlier gains to close down 3
percent, the biggest fall since Sept. 15. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nZZN2RKR00
MSCI's all-country world equity index .MIWD00000PUS was
last up 0.08 percent. Europe's broad FTSEurofirst 300 index
.FTEU3 was last down 0.03 percent.
The Dow Jones industrial average .DJI was last up 0.4
percent at 17,286.33. The S&P 500 .SPX was up 0.19 percent at
2,034.64. The Nasdaq Composite .IXIC was up 0.15 percent at
4,888.17.
Brent crude prices LCOc1 hit $47.50 a barrel, while U.S.
crude CLc1 prices hit $44.86, their lowest levels since Oct.
2. The American Petroleum Institute on Tuesday reported a rise
in U.S. commercial crude stocks of 7.1 million barrels to 473
million barrels in the week to Oct. 16, trumping expectations
for an increase of 3.9 million barrels. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL3N12L1GE
Rising supply from the largest-producing countries, along
with slowing demand from emerging nations, has cut the price of
oil in half over the last year.
"There is a surplus everywhere," Torbjorn Tornqvist, chief
executive of Gunvor, told the Reuters Commodities Summit.
U.S. Treasury yields slumped after disappointing Japanese
exports revived worries about sputtering world growth and dimmed
prospects for a quick hike in U.S. interest rates. U.S. 30-year
Treasury bonds US30YT=RR were last up 1-4/32 in price to yield
2.87 percent, from a yield of 2.92 percent late Tuesday.
The dollar rose against emerging-market and
commodity-linked currencies as Chinese stocks slid, while the
yen dipped after the Japanese trade data. The dollar lost
ground, however, against the euro ahead of the ECB meeting.
urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N12L15F
The dollar was last 0.55 percent higher against the Mexican
peso MXN= at 16.65 pesos and was 1.1 percent higher against
the Brazilian real at 3.95 reals BRL= . The euro was last up
0.08 percent against the greenback at $1.13545 EUR=EBS .
The dollar index, which measures the greenback against a
basket of six major currencies, was last down slightly at 94.876
.DXY .