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Tag: UnitedHealth Group Inc

  • CNBC Daily Open: Bullish sentiment and broadening rally – markets are in a good place

    CNBC Daily Open: Bullish sentiment and broadening rally – markets are in a good place

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    Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange on April 5, 2024.

    Spencer Platt | Getty Images News | Getty Images

    This report is from today’s CNBC Daily Open, our international markets newsletter. CNBC Daily Open brings investors up to speed on everything they need to know, no matter where they are. Like what you see? You can subscribe here.

    What you need to know today

    Breather from rally
    U.S. markets fell Tuesday, weighed down by a     drop in semiconductor stocks and a 8.1% slide in UnitedHealth. Asia-Pacific stocks were mostly lower Wednesday. Asian chip stocks, like Tokyo Electron and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, retreated on news of ASML’s disappointing forecast and reports of the U.S. possibly imposing export controls on AI chips.

    ASML slumps
    Shares of semiconductor equipment manufacturer ASML plunged 16% on a downbeat earnings report. For 2025, the Netherlands-based company thinks net sales will come in at the lower half of its previous projection. ASML missed expectations on net bookings by 3 billion euros for the September quarter, though net sales beat expectations.

    Better than ChatGPT
    Alibaba updated its artificial-intelligence translation tool, based on a model called Marco MT, on Wednesday. The Chinese e-commerce giant said its product performs better than those by Google and DeepL, according to an assessment by benchmarking tool FLoRes. Fifteen languages are supported by Alibaba’s AI-powered translation tool.

    Banks beat expectations
    Goldman Sachs, Bank of America and Citigroup beat earnings and revenue estimates for their third quarter. Goldman was the standout performer: Its profit jumped 45% from a year earlier. Year on year, Bank of America experienced a 12% drop in net income and Citigroup’s net income fell 8.6%.

    [PRO] Repositioning for slower rate cuts
    September’s strong jobs report and higher-than-expected inflation reading mean that the U.S. Federal Reserve is unlikely to repeat its jumbo 50-basis-point rate cut at its November meeting. Here’s how strategists are repositioning in view of changing rate cut expectations.

    The bottom line

    Despite markets falling Tuesday, there’s still plenty to like about their current state.

    Weighed down by ASML’s 16% dive and a report by Bloomberg on potential AI-chip export controls, semiconductor stocks like Nvidia and AMD fell 4.7% and 5.2% respectively. That gave the VanEck Semiconductor ETF its worst day since Sept. 3. As a result, the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite lost 1.01%.

    The Dow Jones Industrial Average, which just yesterday was basking in its accomplishment at closing above the 43,000 level for the first time, fell 0.75% to dip into the 42,000 territory again. UnitedHealth’s 8.1% drop dragged down the Dow.

    Last, the S&P 500 retreated 0.76%.

    Still, investors are the most bullish in four years, according to the October BofA Global Fund Manager Survey. They’re also optimistic about the economy: 74% investors believe the U.S. will avoid a recession.

    Anticipation of more rate cuts by the U.S. Federal Reserve and hopes that Beijing will unleash more stimulus to boost its economy are driving up investor sentiment, according to Michael Hartnett, an investment strategist at BofA.

    Indeed, San Francisco Fed President Mary Daly, who’s a member of the Federal Open Market Committee this year, noted that the central bank is “a long way from where [rates are] likely to settle.” That means “the decisions that are really in front of us are ones about how quickly to adjust towards that level” – not whether to keep rates high in light of how strong recent economic data has been.

    Another positive sign for markets is how the S&P and Dow hit all-time highs on Monday, but the Nasdaq was still a few percentage points away from its peak. “This subtle divergence is technical evidence that the market has been moving away from the Magnificent Seven mega-caps,” wrote Piper Sandler’s chief market technician Craig Johnson.

    – CNBC’s Jeff Cox, Samantha Subin, Yun Li, Lisa Kailai Han and Alex Harring contributed to this story.    

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  • CNBC Daily Open: Bullish sentiment and broadening rally – plenty to like about markets

    CNBC Daily Open: Bullish sentiment and broadening rally – plenty to like about markets

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    Traders work on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, U.S., May 17, 2024. 

    Brendan McDermid | Reuters

    This report is from today’s CNBC Daily Open, our international markets newsletter. CNBC Daily Open brings investors up to speed on everything they need to know, no matter where they are. Like what you see? You can subscribe here.

    What you need to know today

    Breather from rally
    U.S. markets fell Tuesday, weighed down by a     drop in semiconductor stocks and a 8.1% slide in UnitedHealth. The pan-European Stoxx 600 index lost 0.8% as sectors diverged in performance. Tech stocks fell 6.36%, while telecoms stocks rose 1.97%. Separately, euro zone industrial production increased 1.8% between July and August, according to Eurostat.

    Banks beat expectations
    Goldman Sachs, Bank of America and Citigroup beat earnings and revenue estimates for their third quarter. Goldman was the standout performer: Its profit jumped 45% from a year earlier. Year on year, Bank of America experienced a 12% drop in net income and Citigroup’s net income fell 8.6%.

    ASML slumps
    Shares of semiconductor equipment manufacturer ASML plunged 16% on a downbeat earnings report. For 2025, the Netherlands-based company thinks net sales will come in at the lower half of its previous projection. ASML missed expectations on net bookings by 3 billion euros for the September quarter, though net sales beat expectations.

    Israel might not hit oil facilities
    After Israel reportedly told the U.S. it’s not planning to strike Iran’s oil facilities, prices for both West Texas Intermediate and Brent futures fell more than 4%. Earlier this week, OPEC cut its forecast for daily oil demand growth in 2024 to 1.9 million barrels per day from 2 million bpd. That was the third consecutive time this year it’s lowered expectations.

    [PRO] S&P 500 at 6,400?
    Stocks seem unstoppable. Two years into a bull market, the S&P 500 has been constantly hitting new closing highs. History suggests the bull tends to stall, or at least trip on itself, in its third year. But UBS thinks the S&P can buck the trend in 2025 and soar to 6,400, implying an upside of 10% from Tuesday’s close.

    The bottom line

    Despite markets falling Tuesday, there’s still plenty to like about their current state.

    Weighed down by ASML’s 16% dive and a report by Bloomberg on potential AI-chip export controls, semiconductor stocks like Nvidia and AMD fell 4.7% and 5.2% respectively. That gave the VanEck Semiconductor ETF its worst day since Sept. 3. As a result, the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite lost 1.01%.

    The Dow Jones Industrial Average, which just yesterday was basking in its accomplishment at closing above the 43,000 level for the first time, fell 0.75% to dip into the 42,000 territory again. UnitedHealth’s 8.1% drop dragged down the Dow.

    Last, the S&P 500 retreated 0.76%.

    Still, investors are the most bullish in four years, according to the October BofA Global Fund Manager Survey. They’re also optimistic about the economy: 74% investors believe the U.S. will avoid a recession.

    Anticipation of more rate cuts by the U.S. Federal Reserve and hopes that Beijing will unleash more stimulus to boost its economy are driving up investor sentiment, according to Michael Hartnett, an investment strategist at BofA.

    Indeed, San Francisco Fed President Mary Daly, who’s a member of the Federal Open Market Committee this year, noted that the central bank is “a long way from where [rates are] likely to settle.” That means “the decisions that are really in front of us are ones about how quickly to adjust towards that level” – not whether to keep rates high in light of how strong recent economic data has been.

    Another positive sign for markets is how the S&P and Dow hit all-time highs on Monday, but the Nasdaq was still a few percentage points away from its peak. “This subtle divergence is technical evidence that the market has been moving away from the Magnificent Seven mega-caps,” wrote Piper Sandler’s chief market technician Craig Johnson.

    – CNBC’s Jeff Cox, Samantha Subin, Yun Li, Lisa Kailai Han and Alex Harring contributed to this story.  

    Correction: An earlier version of this report misstated the day of U.S. stock movement.  

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  • Earnings will drive the stock market in the week ahead. That’s a good thing

    Earnings will drive the stock market in the week ahead. That’s a good thing

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    A view of the New York Stock Exchange building in the Financial District in New York City on Aug. 5, 2024.

    Charly Triballeau | Afp | Getty Images

    The good times are still rolling on Wall Street. An intensifying earnings season will put that momentum to the test.

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  • Stocks, Bonds Remain Lower After Fed’s Beige Book: Markets Wrap

    Stocks, Bonds Remain Lower After Fed’s Beige Book: Markets Wrap

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    (Bloomberg) — A slide in bonds dragged down stocks as another weak sale of Treasuries raised concern about swelling supply that could keep driving yields up at a time when the Federal Reserve is in no rush to cut rates.

    Most Read from Bloomberg

    Traders also sifted through the Fed’s latest Beige Book survey of regional business contacts, which said economic activity expanded — and most districts saw slight growth. The report also said that prices increased at a modest pace, while employment rose slightly.

    Federal Reserve May Beige Book Summary (Text)

    The US sold $44 billion of seven-year notes at 4.650% — above the pre-auction level of 4.637%. That’s just a day after two other US offerings totaling $139 billion saw tepid demand. Those bond sales are exerting a growing sway over several asset classes, underscoring how the uncertainties over Fed policy continue to grip markets as inflation shows little signs of moderation.

    “Similar to yesterday’s poor 5-year auction, today’s 7-year was weak as well and after a mediocre 2-year,” said Peter Boockvar at The Boock Report.

    Treasury 10-year yields climbed six basis points to 4.61%. The dollar advanced against all of its developed-market peers.

    The S&P 500 dropped below 5,300. American Airlines Group Inc. tumbled on a disappointing outlook. UnitedHealth Group Inc. led industry losses after saying it sees a “disturbance” coming as states pare enrollees in their Medicaid programs. Marathon Oil Corp. surged as ConocoPhillips agreed to acquire it in a $17 billion deal. BHP Group abandoned its bid for Anglo American Plc.

    “Not only are yields rising again in the US, but they are moving higher in other parts of the world,” said Matt Maley at Miller Tabak + Co. “That is not good news for a stock market that’s trading at 22 times forward earnings.”

    European bond issuance this year has topped the €1 trillion ($1.1 trillion) mark more than a week before the previous record. German bond yields hit a six-month high as inflation accelerated. Australia’s latest inflation reading suggested rates will remain high for now.

    Fed Chair Jerome Powell and his colleagues have stressed the need for more evidence that inflation is on a sustained path to their 2% goal before cutting the benchmark interest rate, which has been at a two-decade high since July.

    “We continue to believe that US sovereign yields should end the year lower as inflation and economic growth slow and the Fed cuts rates in the last months of the year,” said Solita Marcelli at UBS Global Wealth Management.

    Meantime, the options market is betting that the S&P 500 will see muted swings following this week’s bond auctions and the Fed’s favorite underlying inflation gauge Friday, with traders instead looking ahead to next month’s reading on consumer prices and the central bank’s upcoming meeting.

    The benchmark equities gauge is implied to move just 0.5% in either direction following the personal consumption expenditures price index, based on the cost of at-the-money puts and calls, per Stuart Kaiser, Citigroup Inc.’s head of US equity trading strategy.

    The reading is less than the implied move on June 7 — the next jobs report — and CPI and the Fed’s upcoming rate decision — both on June 12, which would be the largest ahead of a central bank meeting since December, Kaiser said.

    Economists expect the PCE minus food and energy to rise 0.2% in April. That would mark the smallest advance so far this year for the measure. The overall PCE price index probably climbed 0.3%. Increases this year stand in contrast to relatively flat readings in the final three months of 2023, underscoring uneven progress for the Fed in its inflation fight.

    Bank of America Corp. clients were net sellers of US equities for a fourth consecutive week as they offloaded $2 billion dollars worth of shares during the five-day period ended last Friday.

    Outflows came chiefly from hedge funds and retail investors as institutions were net buyers, quantitative strategists led by Jill Carey Hall wrote.

    Hedge funds’ exposure to US technology behemoths hit a record high following Nvidia Corp.’s estimate-thumping earnings report last week, according to Goldman Sachs Group Inc.’s prime brokerage.

    The so-called Magnificent Seven companies — Nvidia, Apple Inc., Amazon.com Inc., Meta Platforms Inc., Alphabet Inc., Tesla Inc. and Microsoft Corp. — now account for about 20.7% of hedge funds’ total net exposure to US single stocks, the report showed.

    Corporate Highlights:

    • Exxon Mobil Corp. investors voted in line with board recommendations on all shareholder proposals at its annual meeting Wednesday despite vocal opposition to the company’s lawsuit against activists.

    • Abercrombie & Fitch Co. shares jumped after the retailer blew past first-quarter sales estimates, extending its bounce back from the teen fashion graveyard.

    • Dick’s Sporting Goods Inc. raised its outlook for the year and reported sales that surpassed analysts’ estimates with strong demand for sports gear across categories.

    • Robinhood Markets Inc. announced a plan to repurchase as much as $1 billion of its own shares.

    • Lenovo Group Ltd. plans to sell $2 billion worth of zero-coupon convertible bonds to Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, part of a broader strategic pact with the tech-hungry kingdom.

    Key events this week:

    • Eurozone economic confidence, unemployment, consumer confidence, Thursday

    • US initial jobless claims, GDP, Thursday

    • Fed’s John Williams and Lorie Logan speak, Thursday

    • Japan unemployment, Tokyo CPI, industrial production, retail sales, Friday

    • China official manufacturing and non-manufacturing PMI, Friday

    • Eurozone CPI, Friday

    • US consumer income, spending, PCE deflator, Friday

    • Fed’s Raphael Bostic speak, Friday

    Some of the main moves in markets:

    Stocks

    • The S&P 500 fell 0.5% as of 2:02 p.m. New York time

    • The Nasdaq 100 fell 0.4%

    • The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.9%

    • The MSCI World Index fell 0.9%

    Currencies

    • The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index rose 0.4%

    • The euro fell 0.4% to $1.0814

    • The British pound fell 0.4% to $1.2713

    • The Japanese yen fell 0.3% to 157.63 per dollar

    Cryptocurrencies

    • Bitcoin fell 1% to $67,540.43

    • Ether fell 1.6% to $3,765.61

    Bonds

    • The yield on 10-year Treasuries advanced six basis points to 4.61%

    • Germany’s 10-year yield advanced 10 basis points to 2.69%

    • Britain’s 10-year yield advanced 12 basis points to 4.40%

    Commodities

    • West Texas Intermediate crude fell 0.6% to $79.39 a barrel

    • Spot gold fell 0.8% to $2,343.29 an ounce

    This story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.

    Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek

    ©2024 Bloomberg L.P.

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  • Healthy Returns: U.S. drug shortages reach record high, hitting Wegovy, ADHD medications

    Healthy Returns: U.S. drug shortages reach record high, hitting Wegovy, ADHD medications

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    Boxes of Wegovy made by Novo Nordisk are seen at a pharmacy in London, Britain March 8, 2024. 

    Hollie Adams | Reuters

    Think a friend or colleague should be getting this newsletter? Share this link with them to sign up.

    Good afternoon! Drug shortages in the U.S. are at a record high, leaving countless patients in limbo. 

    A total of 323 drugs were in shortage in the first quarter of this year, up from the previous high of 320 in 2014, according to data published last week by the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists and the University of Utah Drug Information Service. That’s the most medicines since the groups began tracking shortages in 2001.

    So, which drugs do the shortfalls affect?

    Supplies are low for everything from lower doses of Novo Nordisk’s blockbuster weight loss drug Wegovy, certain doses of Eli Lilly’s popular diabetes injection and weight loss counterpart Zepbound, to key cancer treatments and common antibiotics. Many of them are generic medications, which make up a majority of Americans’ prescriptions.

    “All drug classes are vulnerable to shortages,” Paul Abramowitz, CEO of the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists, or ASHP, wrote in a blog post on Thursday.

    But he said “some of the most worrying shortages involve generic sterile injectable medications, including cancer chemotherapy drugs and emergency medications stored in hospital crash carts and procedural areas.” Ongoing scarcity of ADHD medications “also remain a serious challenge for clinicians and patients,” Abramowitz added. 

    The drug shortage database maintained by the two organizations is based on voluntary reports from practitioners, patients and others. The figures are confirmed with drugmakers. This list often includes more drugs than the number the Food and Drug Administration considers to be in shortage. 

    It’s unclear how many patients are impacted by the current drug shortages. But the average shortage from 2016 to 2020 affected at least half a million patients, many of whom are older adults, according to an analysis the Department of Health and Human Services shared with Congress in May. 

    The shortages can create serious problems.

    Margot Wood, an Oregon-based author of the book Fresh, said intermittent shortages of ADHD medications have disrupted her daily life for roughly a year and a half. Wood said she can generally function without the drugs, but noted that every task is “much more complicated and difficult” and “takes three times as long” to do. 

    “I need them not just for work, but also for my relationships, being a mom, in my hobbies and things and just keeping up with my day-to-day life,” Wood told CNBC. 

    While patients in some states can scour different pharmacies for the medication they need, Wood said there isn’t much she can do in Oregon. That’s because Oregon considers ADHD medications controlled substances, meaning Wood can only fill her prescription at her designated pharmacy. 

    When her medication does go back in stock, Wood said she often rations her supply to prepare for potential shortages in the future. She added it is “frustrating” that the reason behind the shortages isn’t clear to patients and even some pharmacists. 

    JB Reed | Bloomberg | Getty Images

    So, what exactly is driving drug shortages? And how can the issue be fixed? 

    Around 60% of drug manufacturers did not disclose the factors behind the scarcity of medications, according to the new data from ASHP and the University of Utah Drug Information Service. 

    Some drugmakers said demand has outstripped supply, which has been the case with buzzy weight loss and diabetes medications. Others said manufacturing and quality problems, such as supply chain gaps, played a role. 

    But the Biden administration has suggested a deeper issue may cause shortages, particularly of generic drugs.

    In February, the Federal Trade Commission and HHS said they are examining the role that drug wholesalers and companies that purchase medicines for U.S. health-care providers play in those shortages. The agencies will determine whether those middlemen have misused their market power to cut the prices of generic drugs to the point that manufacturers can’t profit and have to stop production, and rival suppliers are discouraged from competing in the generic drug market. 

    The Biden administration has taken other steps to tackle drug shortages. Last week, HHS outlined policy recommendations to help prevent supply deficiencies and mitigate vulnerabilities. 

    That includes collaborations with drugmakers and hospitals that aim to make the drug market more transparent and encourage companies to invest in resilient and diverse drug supply chains.

    Abramowitz on Thursday said some of the recommendations align with those of ASHP, but the organization has “serious concerns” about certain parts of the plan. He pointed to a proposal that could penalize hospitals that lack the resources to comply with the recommendations. 

    “Much work remains to be done at the federal level to fix the root causes of drug shortages,” Abramowitz wrote.

    Feel free to send any tips, suggestions, story ideas and data to Annika at annikakim.constantino@nbcuni.com.

    Latest in health-care technology

    UnitedHealth reveals financial impact of Change Healthcare cyberattack

    The corporate logo of the UnitedHealth Group appears on the side of one of their office buildings in Santa Ana, California, U.S., April 13, 2020. 

    Mike Blake | Reuters

    All eyes were on UnitedHealth Group on Tuesday morning as the company reported first-quarter results that gave investors a window into the cost of the Change Healthcare cyberattack. 

    UnitedHealth said its earnings took a 74 cents per share hit from the breach in the first quarter, and it expects the full-year impact to be between $1.15 and $1.35 per share.

    “The core story at UnitedHealth Group remains our colleagues delivering improved experiences for the people we serve and driving balanced growth even while swiftly and effectively addressing the attack on Change Healthcare,” UnitedHealth CEO Andrew Witty said in a release.

    UnitedHealth, which owns Change Healthcare, discovered that a cyber threat actor had breached part of the unit’s information technology systems in February. The company had to shut off the affected systems, temporarily leaving many doctors without a way to fill prescriptions or get paid for their services. Many are still contending with the fallout. 

    Shares of UnitedHealth were up more than 5% as of 11 a.m. ET on Tuesday.

    UnitedHealth’s Optum acquired Change Healthcare for $13 billion in 2022. The merger was controversial, as groups like the American Medical Association claimed the union could stifle competition. The Justice Department sued to block the acquisition that year, but the deal eventually went through.

    In the company’s quarterly call with investors Tuesday, Witty said UnitedHealth’s ownership of Change Healthcare is “important for the country.” He said the attack likely would have happened either way, but if UnitedHealth did not own the company, Change Healthcare would not have had the resources or support necessary to bring its systems back online. 

    “We’re going to bring it back much stronger than it was before,” Witty said.

    UnitedHealth CFO John Rex said during the call that the company’s insurance unit, UnitedHealthcare, is “pretty much back to normal in terms of claim submission activity” in the wake of the cyberattack. He said claims are flowing as expected.

    It is still not clear exactly how the attack happened, or what data was compromised. 

    Feel free to send any tips, suggestions, story ideas and data to Ashley at ashley.capoot@nbcuni.com.

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  • Wall Street is getting Wells Fargo all wrong after earnings. Here's the level we'd be buyers

    Wall Street is getting Wells Fargo all wrong after earnings. Here's the level we'd be buyers

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  • Hesitant to buy bank stocks long-term over lingering regulatory issues: wealth advisor Brooke May

    Hesitant to buy bank stocks long-term over lingering regulatory issues: wealth advisor Brooke May

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    Share

    Closing Bell: Overtime

    Barbara Doran, BD8 Capital CEO and Brooke May, Evans May Wealth managing partner, joins ‘Closing Bell Overtime’ to talk the day’s market action.

    04:56

    an hour ago

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  • Cramer's week ahead: Earnings season kicks off after JPMorgan Healthcare Conference

    Cramer's week ahead: Earnings season kicks off after JPMorgan Healthcare Conference

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    CNBC’s Jim Cramer on Friday told investors what to watch for on Wall Street next week, highlighting JPMorgan‘s market-moving health-care conference in San Francisco. Taking place from Monday to Thursday, the conference is one of the year’s largest gatherings of major industry CEOs where they reveal earnings guidance and updates on clinical trial research.

    “The new year has started with a redistribution of cash out of the ‘Magnificent Seven’ and on to the sidelines,” Cramer said, pointing to health-care stocks as a particularly notable group that will likely be “propelled by what people expect to hear from the JPMorgan Healthcare Conference.”

    Cramer will interview several CEOs at the conference, starting with Walgreens CEO Tim Wentworth on Monday. Cramer said he’s interested to hear how the company plans to get its groove back after cutting its dividend nearly in half this week. Cramer will also speak with leadership from Amgen and Medtronic, as well as the new CEO of Bristol Myers, Chris Boerner, whom he’ll ask about the company’s rigorous biotech acquisition plans.

    On Tuesday and Wednesday, Cramer will continue to interview the CEOs of major industry names, including Eli Lilly CEO David Ricks. Cramer said he’s particularly interested in the company’s diabetes and weight loss drug as well as its Alzheimer’s initiative. He’ll also speak with CVS Health CEO Karen S. Lynch to discuss the company’s ongoing transition from drug store to health-care provider. Cramer will also hear from the CEOs of Pfizer, Regeneron, Novartis, Abbott Labs and Cencora.

    Thursday brings the consumer price index for December. Cramer said he thinks those hoping for soft figures will be disappointed. Cramer will also be tuning into CES, the Consumer Electronics Show, next week. The tech event will include commentary by leadership from Nvidia and Dell.

    Earnings season kicks off Friday with reports from major banks including JPMorgan, Bank of America and Wells Fargo. BlackRock will also report, and Cramer said he thinks the company’s earnings could give investors a solid overview of the financial industry. He’ll also be paying attention to Friday reports from UnitedHealth Group and Delta.

    Jim Cramer talks what's ahead for the markets next week

    Jim Cramer’s Guide to Investing

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    Disclaimer The CNBC Investing Club Charitable Trust holds shares of Eli Lilly.

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  • Progressive had a great quarter, but it’s not Jim Cramer’s top insurance stock

    Progressive had a great quarter, but it’s not Jim Cramer’s top insurance stock

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    Progressive Corp (PGR) reported solid quarterly results on Tuesday, sending shares of the company up 8.43% after the opening bell. Others insurers were also up, including MetLife (MET) and UnitedHealth Group (UNH).

    CNBC’s Jim Cramer says that although Progressive had an “incredible quarter,” he prefers Chubb (CB) as a insurance pick. In the past, Cramer said the insurance company is a beneficiary of higher interest rates, which is noteworthy since that the Federal Reserve has delivered 11 hikes since March 2022. Indeed, the company reported an earnings beat last month thanks to higher returns from investments.

    Shares of Chubb rose 1.22% on Tuesday, to $201.8 apiece.

    (See here for a full list of the stocks in Jim Cramer’s Charitable Trust.)

    As a subscriber to the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer, you will receive a trade alert before Jim makes a trade. Jim waits 45 minutes after sending a trade alert before buying or selling a stock in his charitable trust’s portfolio. If Jim has talked about a stock on CNBC TV, he waits 72 hours after issuing the trade alert before executing the trade.

    THE ABOVE INVESTING CLUB INFORMATION IS SUBJECT TO OUR TERMS AND CONDITIONS AND PRIVACY POLICY, TOGETHER WITH OUR DISCLAIMER.  NO FIDUCIARY OBLIGATION OR DUTY EXISTS, OR IS CREATED, BY VIRTUE OF YOUR RECEIPT OF ANY INFORMATION PROVIDED IN CONNECTION WITH THE INVESTING CLUB.  NO SPECIFIC OUTCOME OR PROFIT IS GUARANTEED.

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  • Morgan Stanley says stock picking will matter more in coming weeks so buy these quality stocks

    Morgan Stanley says stock picking will matter more in coming weeks so buy these quality stocks

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  • Cramer: The Cassandras are wrong about the market (again) — here’s why I’m upbeat

    Cramer: The Cassandras are wrong about the market (again) — here’s why I’m upbeat

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    Visitors around the ‘Charging Bull’ statue near the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York, US, on Thursday, June 29, 2023.

    Victor J. Blue | Bloomberg | Getty Images

    The boogeymen continue to be fictional, despite endless attempts to drum up fear and hasten the departure of millions of scared investors. I’m calling the endless negative prattle the “Bear Bilge,” the stuff thrown at us that seems so cerebral and intellectual, but just turns out to miss the mark.

    I’m being plenty genteel in that summary. I won’t stay that way.

    You know my thesis by now. There are dozens of commentators who come on-air and posit the “hard landing” scenario for the economy, making it clear that we are indeed on the eve of destruction. These Cassandras are from two camps. The first is made up of negative analysts who dug in their heels and overstayed their welcome. The second group is wealthy hedge fund managers and individuals who see no harm in generating chills simply because they don’t think they are doing so. They regard their fear-mongering as first class advice that can’t possibly have consequences. I get that. If the market crashes they will be lauded for a lifetime. if it percolates, big deal — they didn’t tell you to sell, they just told you not to buy. 

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  • UnitedHealth stock bounces off 19-month low after earnings beat amid Optum strength, raised full-year outlook

    UnitedHealth stock bounces off 19-month low after earnings beat amid Optum strength, raised full-year outlook

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    Shares of UnitedHealth Group Inc.
    UNH,
    -0.87%
    jumped 2.7% in premarket trading Friday, to bounce off a 19-month low, after the health care services and insurance company beat second-quarter earnings expectations and lifted its full-year outlook, citing “strong and well-balanced” growth. Net income rose to $5.47 billion, or $5.82 a share, from $5.07 billion, or $5.34 a share, in the year-ago period. Excluding nonrecurring items, adjusted earnings per share of $6.14 beat the FactSet consensus of $5.99. Total revenue grew 15.6% to $92.90 billion, above the FactSet consensus of $90.75 billion, as UnitedHealthcare revenue rose 13.0% to $70.2 billion and Optum revenue increased 24.8% to $56.3 billion. Medical care ratio of 83.2% compared with 81.5% a year ago, and was just above the FactSet consensus of 83.1%. For 2023, the company lifted its adjusted EPS guidance range to $24.70 to $25.00 from $24.50 to $25.00. The stock, which closed Thursday at the lowest price since December 2021, has dropped 12.5% over the past three months through Thursday, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average
    DJIA,
    +0.14%
    has tacked on 1.5%.

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  • UnitedHealth stock’s tumble is chopping more than 280 points off the Dow’s price

    UnitedHealth stock’s tumble is chopping more than 280 points off the Dow’s price

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    Shares of UnitedHealth Group Inc. UNH took an 8.8% dive toward an 18-month low, as the health insurer said it was facing higher costs from pent-up demand for surgeries. That put the stock on track for the biggest one-day decline since it tumbled 11.1% on March 18, 2020. The insurer’s stock is the highest priced component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, which is a price-weighted index, unlike the S&P 500 SPX, which is a market-capitalization weighted index. UnitedHealth’s stock’s $43.06 price decline was shaving about 284 points off the Dow’s price. The Dow was down 162 points, or 0.5%, while the S&P 500 was…

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  • How UnitedHealth Group grew bigger than the nation’s biggest banks

    How UnitedHealth Group grew bigger than the nation’s biggest banks

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    UnitedHealth Group has the highest price per share of any company on the Dow Jones Industrial Average and it’s the tenth heaviest-weighted stock on the S&P 500.

    In fact, not only is UnitedHealth the biggest health-care conglomerate in the United States based on market cap and revenue, it’s even bigger than JPMorgan Chase, the nation’s largest bank.

    And it is a Wall Street darling, with experts optimistic about the company’s future: 22 of 25 analysts currently label it a buy.

    “If I had to pick one stock, only one stock to buy, I’d buy United[Health],” said Ana Gupte, principal at AG Health Advisors.

    UnitedHealth “has had superior stock performance over everybody else for two reasons,” said Lance Wilkes, managing director and senior research analyst at Bernstein Research. “One would be strategic vision and the other is strategic capital management.”

    UnitedHealth has increased its annual revenue since 2012 by more than $100 billion, when adjusted for inflation. It achieved this by engaging in a unique acquisition strategy. It started with smaller deals that have grown while many of UnitedHealth’s competitors such as Aetna and Humana or Anthem and Cigna tried to broker much larger ones, only to be stopped by regulators.

    Conversely, UnitedHealth leaned into a vertical-integration strategy, buying up smaller companies and building them into its growing health-care business.

    UnitedHealth’s size makes it “relatively immune to economic cycles” due to the company’s wide diversity, Gupte said. “It makes it very attractive from an economic cycle and a macro environment perspective.”

    Until recently, its acquisition strategy allowed it to grow without catching too much scrutiny from regulators. But in January 2021, UnitedHealth and Change Healthcare announced a nearly $8 billion all-cash deal that was challenged by the Department of Justice due to antitrust concerns.

    Health-care companies “are becoming more and more [like] utilities,” Wilkes said. “Consequently, I think they’re going to have very large market shares because … you wouldn’t want redundant services through the system.”

    “I think at this point you we would consider UnitedHealth Group just kind of like … core health infrastructure at this point in America,” said Matt Stoller, director of research at the American Economic Liberties Project and author of “Goliath: The Hundred Year War Between Monopoly Power and Democracy.” “It’s too big to manage.”

    “UnitedHealth Group is committed to improving the health system for everyone, advancing evidence-based practice and aligning incentives across the system to ensure people get the right care at the right time in the right place,” UnitedHealth Group told CNBC.

    “Because we serve people throughout every aspect of the health system, we have a unique ability to identify opportunities to better integrate care and benefits, develop solutions and deploy them at scale to improve access, lower costs and make the experience better for patients and providers,” it said.

    Watch the video above to learn how UnitedHealth Group grew so big and what that means for the U.S. health-care system.

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  • Here are Friday’s biggest analyst calls: Amazon, Tesla, CVS, Microsoft, XPO, AT&T, Spotify & more

    Here are Friday’s biggest analyst calls: Amazon, Tesla, CVS, Microsoft, XPO, AT&T, Spotify & more

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  • Treasury yields little changed as focus remains on economic outlook, earnings

    Treasury yields little changed as focus remains on economic outlook, earnings

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    John Zich | Bloomberg | Getty Images

    U.S. Treasury yields were little changed on Tuesday, as investors continued to assess the outlook for the U.S. economy and digested the latest round of corporate earnings.

    As of around 2:20 a.m. ET, the yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note was fractionally higher at 3.5946% while the yield on the 30-year Treasury bond also nudged marginally upwards to 3.8080%. Yields move inversely to prices.

    Corporate earnings season dominates this week’s agenda, with giants Johnson & Johnson, Bank of America and Goldman Sachs all set to report before the opening bell on Wall Street on Tuesday.

    On the data front, traders will have an eye on the March housing starts and building permits figures due at 8:30 a.m. ET. Housing starts for the month are expected to have fallen by 3.4% to 1.40 million units, according to Dow Jones consensus estimates, while building permits are projected to drop by 4.9% to 1.45 million units.

    Markets are closely following economic data for a read on where the Federal Reserve might take interest rates at its next meeting in early May. More than 84% of traders are calling a 25 basis point hike at the next policy meeting, according to CME Group’s FedWatch tool.

    An auction will be held Tuesday for $34 billion of 52-week Treasury bills.

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  • Pro Picks: Watch all of Friday’s big stock calls on CNBC

    Pro Picks: Watch all of Friday’s big stock calls on CNBC

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  • Tesla stock wipes out three-day bounce, falls to lowest price in more than 2 years

    Tesla stock wipes out three-day bounce, falls to lowest price in more than 2 years

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    It has taken just one day for Tesla Inc.’s stock to erase the entire bounce it enjoyed over the last three days trading sessions of 2022, as disappointing deliveries data helped trigger the biggest selloff in more than two years.

    The stock’s
    TSLA,
    -12.24%
    Tuesday drop knocked the electric vehicle maker’s market capitalization to 15th on the list of most valuation S&P 500 index companies.

    On Tuesday, Tesla’s market cap fell below that of consumer products company Procter & Gamble Co.
    PG,
    +0.01%    ,
    with a current market cap of $359.18 billion, and was just below Nvidia Corp.
    NVDA,
    -2.05%
    at $352.15 billion, according to FactSet data. Tesla sat just above Chevron Corp.
    CVX,
    -3.06%    ,
    which was at $336.43 billion. (See list of S&P 500’s 20 most valuable companies as of Tuesday’s closing prices below.)

    Tesla’s stock took a $15.08, or 12.2% dive, to $108.10 on Tuesday, to lead the S&P 500’s
    SPX,
    -0.40%
    decliners, after the company reported over the weekend that fourth-quarter deliveries that came up short of expectations for the third quarter in a row. It suffered the biggest one-day decline since it plummeted 21.1% on Sept. 8, 2020, and closed at the lowest price since Aug. 13, 2020.

    Don’t miss: Tesla delivery-target miss shows ‘demand cracks clearly happening’ that mean ‘numbers could be materially reset’ for coming years, analysts write.

    With about 3.16 billion shares outstanding as of Oct. 18, the stock’s decline shaved about $47.62 billion off Tesla’s market cap, to bring it down to $341.35 billion. That’s a far cry from the peak market cap of $1.24 trillion reached exactly one-year ago.

    After the stock hit the deepest oversold reading in its history based on the widely followed Relative Strength Index momentum indicator on Dec. 27, following the longest losing streak in more than four years, it ran up $14.08, or 12.9%, over the past three days.

    If there’s a bright side to Tuesday’s stock selloff, it’s that even though the price fell below the Dec. 27 closing price, the RSI ended the day at 24.86, which is up from the Dec. 27 record low of 16.56.

    That could be a preliminary sign of what chart watchers call “bullish technical divergence,” which is when prices make lower lows while the RSI makes a higher low. It’s still rather early to make that determination, however, as the stock needs to start bouncing again to see if RSI bottoms above the previous low.

    Market caps of the Top 20 most valuable S&P 500 companies:

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  • These 11 stocks can lead your portfolio’s rebound after the S&P 500 ‘earnings recession’ and a market bottom next year

    These 11 stocks can lead your portfolio’s rebound after the S&P 500 ‘earnings recession’ and a market bottom next year

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    This may surprise you: Wall Street analysts expect earnings for the S&P 500 to increase 8% during 2023, despite all the buzz about a possible recession as the Federal Reserve tightens monetary policy to quell inflation.

    Ken Laudan, a portfolio manager at Kornitzer Capital Management in Mission, Kan., isn’t buying it. He expects an “earnings recession” for the S&P 500
    SPX,
    +2.78%
    — that is, a decline in profits of around 10%. But he also expects that decline to set up a bottom for the stock market.

    Laudan’s predictions for the S&P 500 ‘earnings recession’ and bottom

    Laudan, who manages the $83 million Buffalo Large Cap Fund
    BUFEX,
    -2.86%
    and co-manages the $905 million Buffalo Discovery Fund
    BUFTX,
    -2.82%    ,
    said during an interview: “It is not unusual to see a 20% hit [to earnings] in a modest recession. Margins have peaked.”

    The consensus among analysts polled by FactSet is for weighted aggregate earnings for the S&P 500 to total $238.23 a share in 2023, which would be an 8% increase from the current 2022 EPS estimate of $220.63.

    Laudan said his base case for 2023 is for earnings of about $195 to $200 a share and for that decline in earnings (about 9% to 12% from the current consensus estimate for 2022) to be “coupled with an economic recession of some sort.”

    He expects the Wall Street estimates to come down, and said that “once Street estimates get to $205 or $210, I think stocks will take off.”

    He went further, saying “things get really interesting at 3200 or 3300 on the S&P.” The S&P 500 closed at 3583.07 on Oct. 14, a decline of 24.8% for 2022, excluding dividends.

    Laudan said the Buffalo Large Cap Fund was about 7% in cash, as he was keeping some powder dry for stock purchases at lower prices, adding that he has been “fairly defensive” since October 2021 and was continuing to focus on “steady dividend-paying companies with strong balance sheets.”

    Leaders for the stock market’s recovery

    After the market hits bottom, Laudan expects a recovery for stocks to begin next year, as “valuations will discount and respond more quickly than the earnings will.”

    He expects “long-duration technology growth stocks” to lead the rally, because “they got hit first.” When asked if Nvidia Corp.
    NVDA,
    +6.14%
    and Advanced Micro Devices Inc.
    AMD,
    +3.69%
    were good examples, in light of the broad decline for semiconductor stocks and because both are held by the Buffalo Large Cap Fund, Laudan said: “They led us down and they will bounce first.”

    Laudan said his “largest tech holding” is ASML Holding N.V.
    ASML,
    +3.79%    ,
    which provides equipment and systems used to fabricate computer chips.

    Among the largest tech-oriented companies, the Buffalo Large Cap fund also holds shares of Apple Inc.
    AAPL,
    +3.09%    ,
    Microsoft Corp.
    MSFT,
    +3.88%    ,
    Amazon.com Inc.
    AMZN,
    +6.63%
    and Alphabet Inc.
    GOOG,
    +3.91%

    GOOGL,
    +3.73%    .

    Laudan also said he had been “overweight’ in UnitedHealth Group Inc.
    UNH,
    +1.77%    ,
    Danaher Corp.
    DHR,
    +2.64%
    and Linde PLC
    LIN,
    +2.25%
    recently and had taken advantage of the decline in Adobe Inc.’s
    ADBE,
    +2.32%
    price following the announcement of its $20 billion acquisition of Figma, by scooping up more shares.

    Summarizing the declines

    To illustrate what a brutal year it has been for semiconductor stocks, the iShares Semiconductor ETF
    SOXX,
    +2.12%    ,
    which tracks the PHLX Semiconductor Index
    SOX,
    +2.29%
    of 30 U.S.-listed chip makers and related equipment manufacturers, has dropped 44% this year. Then again, SOXX had risen 38% over the past three years and 81% for five years, underlining the importance of long-term thinking for stock investors, even during this terrible bear market for this particular tech space.

    Here’s a summary of changes in stock prices (again, excluding dividends) and forward price-to-forward-earnings valuations during 2022 through Oct. 14 for every stock mentioned in this article. The stocks are sorted alphabetically:

    Company

    		 Ticker

    		 2022 price change

    		 Forward P/E

    		 Forward P/E as of Dec. 31, 2021
    Apple Inc.

    		 AAPL,
    +3.09%         		-22%

    		 22.2

    		 30.2
    Adobe Inc.

    		 ADBE,
    +2.32%         		-49%

    		 19.4

    		 40.5
    Amazon.com Inc.

    		 AMZN,
    +6.63%         		-36%

    		 62.1

    		 64.9
    Advanced Micro Devices Inc.

    		 AMD,
    +3.69%         		-61%

    		 14.7

    		 43.1
    ASML Holding N.V. ADR

    		 ASML,
    +3.79%         		-52%

    		 22.7

    		 41.2
    Danaher Corp.

    		 DHR,
    +2.64%         		-23%

    		 24.3

    		 32.1
    Alphabet Inc. Class C

    		 GOOG,
    +3.91%         		-33%

    		 17.5

    		 25.3
    Linde PLC

    		 LIN,
    +2.25%         		-21%

    		 22.2

    		 29.6
    Microsoft Corp.

    		 MSFT,
    +3.88%         		-32%

    		 22.5

    		 34.0
    Nvidia Corp.

    		 NVDA,
    +6.14%         		-62%

    		 28.9

    		 58.0
    UnitedHealth Group Inc.

    		 UNH,
    +1.77%         		2%

    		 21.5

    		 23.2
    Source: FactSet

    You can click on the tickers for more about each company. Click here for Tomi Kilgore’s detailed guide to the wealth of information available free on the MarketWatch quote page.

    The forward P/E ratio for the S&P 500 declined to 16.9 as of the close on Oct. 14 from 24.5 at the end of 2021, while the forward P/E for SOXX declined to 13.2 from 27.1.

    Don’t miss: This is how high interest rates might rise, and what could scare the Federal Reserve into a policy pivot

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  • Investor Kevin Simpson highlights five dividend-paying stocks to get through high inflation

    Investor Kevin Simpson highlights five dividend-paying stocks to get through high inflation

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