Major Stock Indexes Are Mixed on Busy Earnings Day; S&P 500 Hits All-Time High, Nasdaq Surges; UnitedHealth Weighs on Dow

UnitedHealth Stock Plunges 20%—Here’s What’s Driving the Huge Decline

FROM 25 minutes ago

Shares of UnitedHealth Group led a sell-off in health insurance stocks on Tuesday after the company reported its quarterly results and the Trump administration announced Medicare rates would be effectively unchanged next year. 

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services on Monday night estimated payments to private Medicare Advantage plans will rise just 0.09% next year, a much smaller increase than expected. Next year’s rate increase also pales in comparison to recent years; CMS estimated payments would rise by 5% this year and about 4% in 2025.

UnitedHealth (UNH) stock was down 20% recently, trading at its lowest level since August and pulling the Dow Jones Industrial Average down on an otherwise positive day for U.S. equities. Shares of Humana (HUM) also dropped 20%, while Aetna owner CVS Health (CVS) and Elevance Health (ELV) slid 14% and 13%, respectively.

The healthcare sector entered the year with momentum, having risen double digits in the last months of 2025 as investor concerns about an AI stock bubble drove a risk-off pivot. Still, the sector has trailed the market for years and could continue to lag as political risks loom. Healthcare investors are wary of Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a vocal critic of the industry, and President Trump’s push to lower costs in a healthcare system that a record number of Americans say is unaffordable.

Read the full article here.

–Colin Laidley

Here’s How Much Traders Expect Meta Stock to Move After Wednesday’s Earnings

FROM 38 minutes ago

Meta is scheduled to report its fourth-quarter results after the closing bell Wednesday. Traders anticipate a big move in the social media giant’s stock.

Options pricing suggests traders expect Meta Platforms (META) stock could move close to 6% in either direction by the end of this week. A shift of that size from recent levels around $672 could push shares as high as $712—or drag them back down to about $633, where they were earlier this month.

Meta’s 2026 outlook, and what it has to say about its projected capital expenditures, could take the spotlight when the company reports, amid some worries it could be overspending on AI. Analysts at Bank of America said that could set the stock up for gains if Meta’s expense forecast proves milder than feared, but warned a larger-than-expected spending outlook could fuel investors’ concerns.

BofA also said Meta could top fourth-quarter estimates thanks to momentum in the ad business that accounts for the bulk of the company’s revenue, which could soothe worries about AI spending. More details about Meta’s rollout of ads on Threads, and reported moves to test premium subscriptions for several of its apps, could help too.

Read the full article here.

–Kara Greenberg

Silver—’Gold on Steroids’—Is the Hot Trade Investors Are Chasing These Days

FROM 56 minutes ago

Silver is hardly a runner-up prize these days.

Unease caused by international tensions and perceived risks in the U.S.—such as another government shutdown—have driven investors to hard assets and boosted their prices to record highs. Spot gold’s breaching of the $5,000 level topped the podium yesterday, silver has rallied even more furiously than the precious yellow metal.

Spot silver prices are up almost 50% so far this year, beating gold’s more-than-15% gain. Though silver had backed off its all-time intraday high of around $117 as of Tuesday, analysts see it continuing to outperform in the near term: While gold’s rally has been driven in part by central bank purchases and institutional hedging, individual investors have made silver the hot trade of the moment.

Analysts have lately called silver “gold on steroids” and “retail’s new favourite toy.” According to Vanda Research, which tracks investment flows from individual investors, silver has become a “hotter” trade than artificial intelligence-darling Nvidia (NVDA) in terms of trading momentum. Yesterday individual investors poured about $171 million into the iShares Silver Trust (SLV), the largest single-day net retail inflow on record for the ETF, according to the firm.

Read the full article here.

–Crystal Kim

Warren Buffett Reveals Why Investing Is a Game Stacked in Your Favor

FROM 1 hr 39 min ago

Warren Buffett has never been shy about reminding investors that volatility is part of investing. There will be ups and downs, but remaining calm and staying invested, and even buying additional stock during downturns, will ultimately lead to substantial gains.

For Buffett, long-term participation, not trying to time the market or jump on the latest investing trend, is what builds real wealth. Walking away from the market entirely is the far riskier choice. As Buffet wrote in his 2012 letter to Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (BRK.A, BRK.B) shareholders, “Periodic setbacks will occur, yes, but investors and managers are in a game heavily stacked in their favor…. The risks of being out of the game are huge compared to the risks of being in it.”

A decade ago, the S&P 500 faced plenty of uncertainty: concerns about slowing global growth, rising market volatility in China, and plummeting crude prices made for a very uncertain market and shaky investor confidence. However, if you had invested $10,000 in an S&P 500 index fund that year and simply held on through all the ups and downs of the following decade, that investment would be worth roughly $30,000 by 2025.

This major increase in value happened despite some major downturns in the market over that decade: the 2018 correction, the 2020 pandemic crash, the inflation-driven slide of 2022. However, Buffett would likely remind you that feeling safe again often happens long after the recovery has already occurred. That is why he stresses emotional discipline and remaining calm through the volatile market swings.

Read the full article here.

–Gina Young

Tech Shares Lead S&P 500 Gainers Tuesday Morning

FROM 3 hr 7 min ago

On a day the S&P 500 approached its all-time high, technology stocks were leading the charge.

The S&P 500 Information Technology Sector was the top performer of the 11 industries tracked by the benchmark index, up about 1.6% Tuesday morning.

Corning (GLW), Seagate Technology Holdings (STX), and Lam Research (LRCX) were the top individual stocks in the sector, with gains of about 15%, 6% and 5.5%, respectively.

Seven of the 11 sectors were in the green in recent trading.

Here’s Why Health Insurance Stocks Are Sinking Tuesday

FROM 3 hr 51 min ago

Several health insurer stocks tumbled Tuesday following a proposal from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services that would raise payments to insurers less than expected in 2027.

CMS proposed lifting Medicare insurer payments by just 0.09% next year, well below what the industry was anticipating. Wall Street had forecast a bump between 4% and 6%, according to The Wall Street Journal.

That’s after payments increased by 5.06% for 2026.The proposal also includes modifications to rules about diagnosing patients, amid a Department of Justice investigation and Journal reports last year that claimed UnitedHealth Group (UNH) trained its doctors to diagnose Medicare Advantage patients with specific conditions that could result in higher payouts for the insurer, which the company has denied.

UnitedHealth shares sank nearly 20% in early trading Tuesday following the news. Rivals Humana (HUM) and Aetna owner CVS Health (CVS) fell 21% and 11%, respectively.

Read the full article here.

–Aaron McDade

The Fed’s Next Move Might Be Almost Certain—But Here’s How the Post-Meeting Comments Can Move Markets

FROM 4 hr 27 min ago

If Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell says anything unexpected at Wednesday’s press conference, you’ll likely see it reflected in prices for your financial assets, especially in bonds tied to inflation expectations.

That’s one of the conclusions of a paper by researchers at the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco who studied what happens when officials at the Federal Reserve say something surprising in their official policy statements, or in the Fed chair’s traditional post-meeting press conference.

“Monetary policy news from press conferences—whether in isolation or in conjunction with the news in the associated statement—is a particularly important source of information, with strong effects on Treasury yields and prices of risk assets,” researchers at the bank led by Miguel Acosta, a professor of economics at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, wrote in the paper, published last month.

The paper tracked policy surprises around the Fed’s policy meetings, when the central bank announces changes to the fed funds rate to pursue its dual goals of keeping inflation low and employment high.

Read the full article here.

–Diccon Hyatt

Salesforce Stock Gains After Software Maker Receives $5.6B US Army Contract

FROM 4 hr 50 min ago

Salesforce (CRM) shares rose about 3% before the bell after the software giant announced that it has been chosen for a contract with the U.S. Army for up to 10 years and $5.6 billion.

The Army will be able to use Salesforce’s AI software “as the foundation for its agentic enterprise,” which the company said will help the Pentagon manage costs and make decisions more efficiently.

The contract includes a five-year base period, with another five-year optional buying period with a total purchase ceiling of $5.6 billion, and expands on previous deals where the military would buy individual pieces of software from Salesforce.

Shares of the software maker entered Tuesday having lost about a third of their value over the past year.

–Aaron McDade

What This Week’s Fed Meeting Could Mean for Mortgage Rates

FROM 5 hr 30 min ago

With the U.S. Federal Reserve (Fed) set to meet this week, many homebuyers and homeowners are watching mortgage rates closely, trying to gauge whether the Fed’s decision could affect the borrowing outlook. For now, mortgage rates are entering the week on relatively steady footing.

According to Freddie Mac, the average 30-year fixed mortgage rate fell to 6.09%—its lowest level in three years—in its weekly reading last Thursday. Since then, our daily tracking shows the 30-year average has inched up a minor 10 basis points, leaving mortgage rates still relatively low heading into this week’s Fed meeting.

Where rates go afterwards is an open question. While it’s widely expected the central bank will leave interest rates unchanged—and that a pause could stretch on for months—mortgage rates react not just to what the Fed does, but to a complex web of other factors.

Read the full article here.

–Sabrina Karl

‘Big Short’ Investor Michael Burry Says He’s Betting on This OG Meme Stock

FROM 5 hr 41 min ago

An OG meme stock just got a vote of confidence from a famous investor.

Michael Burry, the former founder and CEO of Scion Asset Management—who inspired the film and book “The Big Short” and is best known for predicting the 2008 financial crisis—said he’s now putting his weight behind a $10 billion video-game and trading-car retailer: GameStop (GME).

“I own GME. I have been buying recently,” Burry wrote in his Substack newsletter Monday, according to CNBC. Burry could not be reached in time for publication.

Read the full article here.

–Kara Greenberg

American Airlines Stock Rises on Rosy Profit Forecast

FROM 6 hr 11 min ago

American Airlines’ fiscal fourth-quarter results came in below analysts’ expectations. Its fiscal 2026 profit forecast did not disappoint investors.

Shares of American Airlines Group (AAL) rose 3.5% before the bell Tuesday after it forecast full-year adjusted earnings per share of $1.70 to $2.70. The midpoint of the range was well above the consensus estimate of $2.02 of analysts surveyed by Visible Alpha.

For Q4 2025, the Dallas-based carrier reported adjusted EPS of $0.16 on operating revenue that increased 2.5% year-over-year to a tick below $14 billion. Analysts were looking for $0.36 and $14.04 billion, respectively.

American said the U.S. government shutdown had a negative revenue impact of about $325 million in the fourth quarter.

Like rivals Delta Air Lines (DAL) and United Airlines (UAL), American was profitable for 205 but lost money actually flying passengers, recording a higher cost per available seat mile (CASM), 17.76 cents, than passenger revenue per available seat mile (PRASM), 16.58 cents. Southwest Airlines (LUV), the other one of the “big four” U.S. carriers by revenue, is set to report Q4 results Thursday and had a far higher CASM than PRASM through three quarters.

American Airlines shares were down about 15% over the past year through Monday.

Why Two ‘Idiots’—Elon Musk and the CEO of Ryanair—Are Going at It

FROM 6 hr 50 min ago

All the world’s a stage for Elon Musk and Ryanair’s Michael O’Leary. The rest of us? Mere spectators.

A disagreement between the aerospace company and the the budget airline operator has evolved into a full-blown public beef as the executives—Musk, of SpaceX, and Ryanair’s O’Leary, neither who are strangers to confrontation or shy about making dramatic public comments—have egged each other on in a series of interviews and social media posts.

This round of sparring appears to have started on Jan. 14, when Ryanair said it wouldn’t equip its planes with SpaceX-owned Starlink satellite internet service, citing fuel costs and the lack of demand from customers who take its shorter flights. When a user of X, another Musk-owned company, referenced a Reuters article with O’Leary’s comments, Musk replied, calling the airline CEO “misinformed.”

O’Leary escalated, saying on Irish radio station Newstalk: “I would pay no attention whatsoever to Elon Musk. He’s an idiot—very wealthy, but he’s still an idiot.” Musk responded to a clip of that interview: “Ryanair CEO is an utter idiot,” he said. “Fire him.”

The beef continued to escalate from there. Ryanair used its X account to mock Musk, first over a reported outage on X with the comment, “Perhaps you need Wi-Fi @elonmusk?” Musk responded, saying: “Should I buy Ryan Air and put someone whose actual name is Ryan in charge?”

Read the full article here.

–Crystal Kim

Stock Futures Mostly Rise on Busy Earnings Day

FROM 7 hr 20 min ago

Futures contracts connected to the Dow Jones Industrial Average were down 0.2%.

S&P 500 futures pointed 0.2% higher.

Nasdaq 100 futures advanced 0.6%.