The S&P 500 touched a record high and extended gains to a fifth session on Tuesday, as nvestors 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 projected higher revenue for 2026, and rose 4.8 per cent . Peer FedEx added 3 per cent .
Results from parcel carriers are often used as a key barometer to gauge US economic health.
Boeing swung to a fourth-quarter profit, and gained 1 per cent , while General Motors advanced 9.2 per cent after reporting higher fourth-quarter core profit.
In airlines, American Airlines fell 3.6 per cent despite issuing a 2026 profit forecast that topped estimates. JetBlue fell 6 per cent on a wider-than-expected quarterly loss.
Airlines are contending with mass cancellations triggered by severe winter weather across the US East Coast.
The Dow fell behind, pressured by an 18.7 per cent drop in UnitedHealth after the Trump administration floated only a modest increase in Medicare insurer payment rates.
The proposal clouded over the insurer’s forecast for 2026 adjusted profit, which was above analysts’ expectations. Peers Humana and CVS fell 19.6 per cent and 12.2 per cent ,
respectively.
At 11:31 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 310.30 ​points, or 0.63 per cent , to 49,102.10, the S&P 500 gained 36.37 points, or 0.52 per cent , to 6,986.60 and the Nasdaq Composite gained 238.19 points, ‌or 1.01 per cent , to 23,839.55.
MAG 7 EARNINGS TEST
Most tech stocks extended Monday’s gains, with Apple and Broadcom up 2 per cent each, while Nvidia and Microsoft gained 1.8 per cent each. Amazon added over 1 per cent .
Meta, Microsoft and Tesla report earnings on Wednesday, kicking off results from the so-called “Magnificent Seven”, which will test the AI trade that has underpinned Wall Street’s rally â€for much of the past year.
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 per cent while the S&P 600 small-cap index has advanced over 6 per cent his month, compared with the benchmark S&P 500’s 2 per cent 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 per cent have topped analyst expectations, as per data compiled by LSEG.
The broader info-tech sector rose 1.8 per cent as Corning jumped 15 per cent 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, US consumer confidence unexpectedly deteriorated in January, slumping to its lowest level since 2014.