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Briefing.com Summary:
*Health insurers are down sharply on a disappointing 2027 Medicare Advantage payment proposal.
*Price action is mixed for a large slate of blue-chip earnings reports.
*President Trump has threatened to raise tariffs on South Korea to 25% from 15% due to its delay in passing the trade deal with the U.S.
There are rarely any dull moments when it comes to connecting the dots between news and the stock market's behavior. This is true again today given the high-brow slate of earnings reports, a new tariff threat from President Trump, and a disillusioning proposal by the Trump administration for Medicare Advantage rates in 2027.
The nexus of these developments is the equity futures market, which is mixed and trading with a mega-cap bias.
Currently, the S&P 500 futures are up 17 points and are trading 0.3% above fair value, the Nasdaq 100 futures are up 151 points and are trading 0.6% above fair value, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average futures are down 303 points and are trading 0.6% below fair value.
The Dow is being weighed down disproportionately by UnitedHealth (UNH), which is down 15% after issuing some disappointing guidance and getting hit by a CMS proposal that calls for a 0.09% net average year-over-year payment increase for Medicare Advantage and Part D policies versus an expected 4-6% increase.
Other health insurers, such as Humana (HUM) and CVS (CVS), are also down sharply.
The broader market, however, is holding up reasonably well due to offsetting gains among the mega-cap stocks, several of which report later this week, and positive price action in the likes of General Motors (GM), UPS (UPS), American Airlines (AAL), and HCA Healthcare (HCA) following their earnings reports.
Conversely, the likes of Boeing (BA), Sanmina (SANM), Nucor (NUE), Roper Technologies (ROP), and Northrop Grumman (NOC) are lower in pre-market trading after their earnings results.
There has been some backsliding, too, in precious metals futures, which have been on a tear, and the dollar continues to weaken against other major currencies, namely the euro and the yen.
The euro has drawn some support from the signing of a landmark free trade agreement between the EU and India; meanwhile, President Trump has threatened to raise tariffs on South Korea to 25% from 15% due to its delay in passing the trade deal it previously agreed to with the U.S.
Treasuries, for their part, are also somewhat mixed. The 2-yr note yield is unchanged at 3.59%, and the 10-yr note yield is up two basis points to 4.23%. Following yesterday's strong 2-yr note auction, there will be a $70 billion 5-yr note auction today. Results will be announced at 1:00 p.m. ET and will be preceded by the release of the January Consumer Confidence Index at 10:00 a.m. ET (Briefing.com consensus: 90.0; prior 89.1).
