PrintUS STOCKS-S&P 500 hits record high as corporate earnings roll in; Medicare rates hit insurers
BY Reuters | ECONOMIC | 11:54 AM EST*
Indexes: Dow down 0.63%, S&P 500 up 0.52%, Nasdaq up 1%
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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 early afternoon prices, analyst comments)
By Pranav Kashyap and Twesha Dikshit
Jan 27 (Reuters) - The S&P 500 touched a record high and extended gains to a fifth session on Tuesday, as investors sifted through a slew of earnings, while a Medicare Advantage payment proposal from ?the Trump administration sent health insurers sharply lower.
The S&P 500 now hovers about 15 points shy of the 7,000 milestone - a mark that analysts have pegged as a potential pocket of ?technical resistance.
Meanwhile, the Nasdaq touched a near three-month high as earnings took center-stage.
Bellwether United Parcel Service
Results from parcel carriers are often used as a key barometer ?to gauge U.S. economic health.
Boeing
In airlines, American Airlines
Airlines are contending ?with mass cancellations triggered by severe winter weather across the U.S. East Coast.
The Dow fell behind, pressured by an 18.7% drop in
UnitedHealth
The ?proposal clouded over the insurer's forecast for 2026 adjusted profit, which ?was above analysts' ?expectations. Peers Humana and CVS fell 19.6% and 12.2%, respectively.
At 11:31 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 310.30 points, or 0.63%, to 49,102.10, the S&P 500 gained 36.37 points, or 0.52%, to 6,986.60 and the Nasdaq Composite gained 238.19 points, ?or 1.01%, to 23,839.55.
MAG 7 EARNINGS TEST
Most tech stocks extended Monday's gains, with Apple
Meta, Microsoft
Signs of crowding in the AI trade have recently spurred a rotation into small-caps and other undervalued parts of the market.
The Russell 2000 index, has risen over 7% while ?the S&P 600 small-cap ?index has advanced over 6% this month, compared with the benchmark S&P 500's 2% gain.
"We have an opportunity to see if investors are okay with increasing spending CapEx to chase the AI dream. Meta off late has not been ?rewarded for increasing its CapEx," said Art Hogan, market strategist at B. Riley Wealth.
In total, 102 S&P 500 companies are set to post earnings results this week. Of the 64 that had reported as of Friday, 79.7% have topped analyst expectations, as per data compiled by LSEG.
The broader info-tech sector rose 1.8% as Corning jumped 15% to its highest since 2000. The Gorilla Glass maker signed a deal with Meta worth up to $6 billion for fiber-optic cables in AI data centers.
FED WATCH
The Federal Reserve begins its two-day policy meeting on Tuesday, with investors broadly expecting the central bank to leave interest rates unchanged.
Attention will ?be on policymakers' guidance, with traders alert to any signals around the Fed's leadership outlook.
"We're looking at who the dissenters might be from a voting perspective which will give insights to see how much consensus there is among members around the state of the economy," said Charlie Ripley, senior investment strategist at Allianz investment management.
Meanwhile, U.S. consumer ?confidence unexpectedly deteriorated in January, slumping to its lowest level since 2014. (Reporting by Pranav Kashyap and Twesha Dikshit in Bengaluru; Editing by Krishna Chandra Eluri)
