While concerns about the U.S. health care overhaul may have triggered a selloff at the start of trading on Monday morning, that same overhaul appears to have driven stocks higher by midday trading.
At noon, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 27 points, or 0.3 per cent, to 10,769. That marks a recovery of 74 points from the index's low near the start of trading. The broader S&P 500 was up 3 points, or 0.3 per cent, to 1163.
Health care stocks, which have been attracting a lot of attention from analysts and investors, enjoyed the biggest gains, rising 1.1 per cent.
But they weren't alone in the turnaround: Consumer discretionary stocks rose 0.9 per cent, telecom services rose 0.6 per cent and information technology stocks rose 0.5 per cent.
Energy stocks were among the biggest laggards, sliding 0.6 per cent after the price of crude oil flirted with $80 (U.S.) a barrel.
In Canada, the S&P/TSX composite index was down 19 points or 0.2 per cent, to 11,929 - down, but still marking an 85-point improvement from the index's low.
Commodity producers exerted the biggest drag on the index's performance. Energy stocks fell 0.6 per cent and materials fell 0.4 per cent.
Financials rose 0.1 per cent and industrials rose 0.3 per cent. And even though health care stocks represent a tiny sliver of the index, in terms of their weighting within it, they followed their U.S. counterparts higher, rising 1.6 per cent.