NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks are zigzagging on Wall Street Tuesday following a rush of mixed profit reports from UnitedHealthcare, General Motors and other big companies, and the crosscurrents are keeping overall indexes in check.
The S&P 500 rose 0.2% and pulled closer to its all-time high set a couple weeks ago. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 365 points, or 0.7%, as of 9:35 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.5% higher.
UnitedHealthcare
Group tumbled nearly 19% even though it reported 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.
It and other health care companies also felt pressure from a projected rate increase for Medicare Advantage by the U.S. government that disappointed investors. UnitedHealthcare is the nation’s largest provider of Medicare Advantage plans, which are privately run versions of the federal government coverage program. Insurers have struggled to maintain Medicare Advantage profit margins due to funding cuts and rising care use and costs.
Humana fell 18.7%, Elevance Health dropped 10.8% and CVS Health sank 8.9%.
Helping to keep the market in check was Corning, which climbed 8.9% after announcing a deal with Meta Platforms that's worth up to $6 billion. Corning will supply optical fiber and cable to help build out data centers for Meta, enough that Corning is expanding its optical-fiber manufacturing facility in Hickory, North Carolina.
Also supporting the U.S. stock market were gains for General Motors, which rose 5.2%, and RTX, which gained 2%. Both delivered profits for the end of 2025 that topped Wall Street’s expectations.
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. That includes Meta Platforms, Microsoft and Tesla on Wednesday and Apple on Thursday.
Another way stock prices can look less expensive 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.
In the bond market, Treasury yields held relatively steady ahead of the decision. The yield on the 10-year Treasury held at 4.22%, where it was late Monday.
In stock markets abroad, indexes rose across much of Europe and Asia.
India’s Sensex index added 0.4% after Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the country had reached agreement on a free trade deal with the European Union.
The accord, which touches 2 billion people, was concluded after 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.
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AP Business Writers Matt Ott and Elaine Kurtenbach contributed.
