Financial Markets                      01/27 15:32

   

   NEW YORK (AP) -- Wall Street ticked to a record on Tuesday, as stocks 
zigzagged under the market's surface following mixed profit reports from 
UnitedHealth, General Motors and other big companies.

   The S&P 500 rose 0.4% and edged past its prior all-time high set a couple 
weeks ago, even though more stocks fell within the index than rose. The Dow 
Jones Industrial Average dropped 408 points, or 0.8%, and the Nasdaq composite 
climbed 0.9%.

   UnitedHealth Group tumbled 19.6% 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.

   Health care stocks also felt tremendous pressure from a projected rate 
increase for Medicare Advantage by the U.S. government, which fell well short 
of what investors had hoped. Humana skidded by 21.1%, Elevance Health dropped 
14.3% and CVS Health sank 14.2%.

   Helping to offset those losses was Corning, which climbed 15.6% 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 8.7%, and hospital-operator HCA Healthcare, which rallied 7.1%. 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 added 0.2% after 
reporting a stronger profit and forecasting better revenue for 2026 than 
analysts expected, while announcing the elimination of 30,000 jobs. American 
Airlines lost 7% after delivering a profit for the end of 2025 that fell well 
short of analysts' expectations.

   The pressure is on companies to deliver strong growth in profits following 
record-setting runs for their stock prices. Stock prices tend to follow the 
path of 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% for Microsoft and 1.1% for Apple.

   All told, the S&P 500 rose 28.37 points to 6,978.60. The Dow Jones 
Industrial Average dropped 408.99 to 49,003.41, and the Nasdaq composite 
rallied 215.74 to 23,817.10.

   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% target, and lower interest 
rates could worsen increases in prices for U.S. 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 inched up to 4.23% from 4.22% 
late Monday.

   It had edged lower earlier in the day, after a report from the Conference 
Board said confidence weakened among U.S. consumers 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% 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, 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%, and Hong Kong's Hang Seng rallied 1.4% for 
two of the world's bigger moves.

   ___

   AP Business Writers Matt Ott and Elaine Kurtenbach contributed.

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