01:45 PM EDT, 07/09/2024 (MT Newswires) -- Health care stocks were higher Tuesday afternoon, with the NYSE Health Care Index rising 0.2% and the Health Care Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLV) up 0.4%.

The iShares Biotechnology ETF (IBB) rose 0.8%.

In corporate news, CVS Health's ( CVS ) Caremark, UnitedHealth's ( UNH ) Optum, and Cigna's ( CI ) Express Scripts are among the top six pharmacy middlemen that contribute to higher drug costs and challenge the viability of independent pharmacies, the US Federal Trade Commission said Tuesday in an interim report on pharmacy benefit managers. CVS shares were rising 1%, UnitedHealth ( UNH ) was up 0.9%, and Cigna ( CI ) added 1.1%.