PrintUS STOCKS-S&P, Nasdaq eye higher open as corporate earnings roll in; Medicare rates hit insurers
BY Reuters | ECONOMIC | 09:01 AM EST*
Futures: Dow down 0.55%, S&P 500 up 0.24%, Nasdaq up 0.62%
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Health insurers dip on disappointing Medicare Advantage proposal
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General Motors
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Boeing
(Updates with analyst comments, prices before the opening bell)
By Pranav Kashyap and Twesha Dikshit
Jan 27 (Reuters) - The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq were set to open higher on Tuesday as investors parsed a fresh round of mega-cap earnings, while health insurers declined ?as the Trump administration's Medicare Advantage payment proposal disappointed investors.
Dow, meanwhile, looked set to open lower, pressured by a 15%
drop in UnitedHealth
The proposal cast a pall over the insurer's forecast for 2026 adjusted profit, which was above analysts' expectations. Peers ?Humana and CVS fell 15.6% and 11.9%, respectively.
Meanwhile, earnings from corporate bellwethers started to stream in.
Boeing
United Parcel Service
Results ?from parcel carriers are often used as a key barometer to gauge ?U.S. economic health.
In airlines, American Airlines
Airlines are contending with mass cancellations triggered by severe winter weather across the ?U.S. East Coast.
At 08:23 a.m. ET, Dow E-minis were down ?271 points, or 0.55%, ?S&P 500 E-minis were up 16.75 points, or 0.24%, and Nasdaq 100 E-minis were up 161.25 points, or 0.62%
MAG 7 EARNINGS LOOM
Meta, Microsoft
Gains in a handful of mega-cap names raised the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq to their highest levels in over a week on Monday.
"Our view this year is the impetus for markets to continue to rise is going to be an earnings story rather than a multiples story," said Charlie Ripley, senior investment strategist at Allianz Investment Management.
"There's an expectation that those earnings will be fairly robust and you're seeing that reflected in ?stocks moving higher."
In total, ?102 S&P 500 companies are set to post earnings results this week.
Of the 64 that reported results as of Friday, 79.7% topped analyst expectations, as per data compiled by LSEG.
Signs of crowding in the AI trade have recently ?spurred a rotation into small-caps and other undervalued parts of the market.
The Russel 2000 index has risen over 7%, while the S&P 600 small-cap index has advanced 6.5% this month, compared with the benchmark S&P 500's 1.5% gain.
FED WATCH
The Federal Reserve begins its two-day policy meeting on Tuesday. Investors are broadly expecting the central bank to leave interest rates unchanged.
Attention will be on policymakers' guidance, with traders looking out for any signals around the Fed's leadership outlook. Questions over the Fed's independence resurfaced earlier this month after the Justice Department opened an inquiry involving Powell.
Consumer confidence figures for January are due at ?10 a.m. ET, and expected to rise to 90.9 points from 89.1 in December.
The risk of a partial U.S. government shutdown also loomed ahead of the January 30 funding deadline, as a second fatal shooting by federal agents in Minneapolis sharpened scrutiny of Trump's immigration crackdown.
Among other stock moves, Salesforce
