Stan Choe
Wall Street is flirting with a record, as stocks zigzag under the market’s surface following mixed profit reports from UnitedHealth, General Motors and other big companies.
The S&P 500 rose 0.5 per cent and could top its all-time high set a couple of weeks ago, even though slightly more stocks fell within the index than rose. The Dow Jones was down 288 points, or 0.6 per cent, and the Nasdaq composite was 1 per cent higher.
The Australian sharemarket is set to rise, with futures at 5.05am AEDT pointing to a rise of 23 points, or 0.3 per cent, at the open. The ASX rose 0.9 per cent on Tuesday. The Australian dollar was fetching US69.87¢ at 5.20am AEDT as it continues its surge among ongoing US dollar weakness.
On Wall Street, UnitedHealth Group tumbled 19.1 per cent despite reporting a profit for the latest quarter that was a bit better than analysts expected. More attention was on the company’s forecast for revenue in the upcoming year, which fell short of Wall Street’s expectations and could be weaker than it was in 2025.
It and other health care companies also felt tremendous pressure from a projected rate increase for Medicare Advantage by the US government, which fell well short of what investors had hoped. Humana skidded by 20.2 per cent, Elevance Health dropped 13 per cent and CVS Health sank 12.9 per cent.
Helping to keep the market in check was Corning, which climbed 15.5 per cent after announcing a deal with Meta Platforms that’s worth up to $US6 billion ($8.6 billion). Corning will supply optical fibre and cable to help build out data centres for Meta, enough that Corning is expanding its optical-fibre manufacturing facility in Hickory, North Carolina.
Also supporting the US stock market were gains for General Motors, which rose 9 per cent, and hospital-operator HCA Healthcare, which rallied 11.1 per cent. Both delivered profits for the end of 2025 that topped Wall Street’s expectations. Each also approved programs to send billions of dollars to their investors by buying back their own stock.
Profit reports elsewhere on Wall Street were mixed. UPS, which moves packages around the global economy, rose 4.4 per cent after reporting a stronger profit and forecasting better revenue for 2026 than analysts expected. American Airlines lost 4.2 per cent after delivering a profit for the end of 2025 that fell well short of analysts’ expectations, in part because the US government shutdown’s siphoned away some revenue.
The pressure is on companies to deliver strong growth in profits following the record-setting runs for their stock prices. Stock prices tend to follow corporate profits over the long term, and earnings need to rise to quiet criticism that stock prices have grown too expensive.
Several of Wall Street’s most influential stocks will deliver their latest earnings reports later this week. They include Meta Platforms, Microsoft and Tesla on Wednesday and Apple on Thursday.
Several of those Big Tech stocks were among the strongest forces lifting the S&P 500 Tuesday, including gains of 2.2 per cent for Apple and 2 per cent for Microsoft.
Another way stock prices can look less expensive to investors is if interest rates fall. The Federal Reserve will announce its next move on interest rates Wednesday, but the widespread expectation is that it will hold its main interest rate steady for now.
Inflation remains stubbornly above the Fed’s 2 per cent target, and lower interest rates could worsen increases in prices for US consumers at the same time that they give the economy a boost. Traders expect the Fed to resume its cuts to interest rates later this year.
In the bond market, Treasury yields were relatively steady ahead of the Fed’s decision. The yield on the 10-year Treasury held at 4.22 per cent, where it was late Monday.
It had edged lower earlier, after a report from the Conference Board said confidence among US consumers weakened last month. Economists had expected to see a slight improvement, but confidence dropped to its lowest level since 2014, even lower than it was during the COVID-19 pandemic.
In stock markets abroad, indexes rose across much of Europe and Asia.
India’s Sensex index added 0.4 per cent after Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the country had reached agreement on a free trade deal with the European Union.
The accord, which touches two billion people, followed nearly two decades of negotiations. It’s one of the biggest bilateral engagements on commerce. The timing comes as Washington targets both India and the EU with steep import tariffs.
South Korea’s Kospi jumped 2.7 per cent, and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rallied 1.4 per cent for two of the world’s bigger moves.
AP
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