U.S. equities closed mixed Friday after a choppy trading session with NBC News reporting the House pulled a key health-care bill.

"I think you will have a rally if he pulls the bill. He didn't have the votes to get it done," said Art Cashin, director of floor operations at the NYSE for UBS. "They'll now move on to tax reform. at least that's what the market will believe and the market will move on."

The Dow Jones industrial average, which had traded more than 100 points lower earlier in the session, closed about 60 points lower. The 30-stock index had also traded positive Friday.

Art Hogan, chief market strategist at Wunderlich Securities said the market had not spiraled lower earlier in the session because Trump had been "clear that if this doesn't get passed, they'll move on."

The S&P 500 closed about 0.1 percent lower, with materials lagging. The health care sector turned positive following the news.

The Nasdaq composite outperformed, rising 0.2 percent after briefly dipping into negative territory. The major indexes posted weekly losses.

Health care intraday chart





Source: FactSet

The vote, which was originally scheduled for Thursday before a delay, was pulled from the floor shortly ahead of the close. House Speaker Paul Ryan is scheduled to hold a news conference at 4 p.m. ET.



Treasurys rose, as the benchmark 10-year note yield dipped below 2.4 percent.

"No vote means buy bonds," said Ian Lyngen, head of U.S. rate strategy at BMO Capital. "If we price out the positive momentum the bill appeared to have and we question what this means for other reforms, and trump's overall level of political capital that would be constructive for the Treasury market."

The House vote was seen as crucial for the Trump agenda. Trump has said the repeal and replacement of Obamacare must happen before action can be taken on his other plans, including a major tax reduction.