Stocks end mixed after service jobs news

Major market indexes on Wall Street ended mixed after good news in the service sector.

The Dow Jones industrial average and Standard & Poor's 500 index finished down 0.1% and 0.3%, respectively, while the Nasdaq composite was 0.1% higher at the close.

Activity at service firms accelerated in October despite the partial government shutdown, boosted by a jump in sales and more hiring.

The Institute of Supply Management said its service-sector index rose to 55.4 in October, up from 54.4 in September. The index hit an eight-year high of 58.6 in August. Any reading above 50 indicates expansion.

Tenet Healthcare plunged nearly 10% to $43.44 as of late morning after the hospital operator said that its third-quarter profit fell, in part because of costs associated with its $4.3 billion acquisition of Vanguard Health Systems.

AOL went the opposite direction in morning trading, rising 7.5% to $41.64 after an earnings report that brought up the prospect of more cuts at its Patch unit. Profit was down 90% from the year-ago quarter.

Stocks finished strong Monday. The Dow Jones industrial average ended 0.15% higher, while the Standard & Poor's 500 and the Nasdaq composite closed 0.4% higher each.

A run of economic data culminates on Friday with the publication of the delayed nonfarm payrolls report for October — a series of economic indicators that will go a long way to determining when the Federal Reserve will start to reduce its monetary stimulus.

Major European indexes were down. Britain's FTSE 100 dropped 0.4% and Germany's DAX fell 0.4%. France's CAC 40 was clobbered, losing 0.9%.

Japan's Nikkei 225 closed up 0.2% at 14,225.37 while Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell 0.7% to 23,038.95.

Contributing: The Associated Press