
Health Insurers Fall, South Korea Tariffs Increase
U.S. stock futures are modestly higher ahead of the Wall Street open and are extending yesterday’s gains. The moves come ahead of major earnings from about 20% of the S&P 500 companies and a Fed rate decision on Wednesday.
Shares of several big-name health insurers, including United Healthcare (UNH), CVS (CVS) and Humana (HUM) plunged after the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services proposed raising payments to Medicare Advantage insurers by a net average of just 0.09% in 2027, which was far below estimates.
Trade headlines are also increasing after President Trump said that he would raise tariffs on South Korean autos, pharmaceuticals, and lumber from 15% to 25% due to a delay in South Korea’s legislature approving a trade deal the nation had reached with the U.S. last summer.
This comes as India and the EU signed a historic trade deal that would gradually decrease tariffs to zero on a majority of their exports.
Snapshot (as of 7 AM ET)
- Oil (/CL) – Oil prices are down 0.2% near $60.60 a barrel as a massive winter storm hit crude production and affected refineries on the U.S. Gulf Coast. In the U.S., oil producers lost up to 2 million barrels per day or roughly 15% of national production over the weekend, analysts and traders estimated, as a winter storm swept across the country, straining energy infrastructure and power grids.
- Gold (/GC) – Gold Futures are flat near $5080 after hitting record highs above $5,100 for the first time in the previous session, as safe-haven demand lingered amid geopolitical uncertainty, while silver also hovered near all-time highs.
- Bitcoin (/BTC) – The Crypto Future is up 0.4% under 88,000 in premarket trading.
- VIX – The CBOE Volatility Index was up 0.4% on Monday and settled at 16.15 as stocks were higher.
- U.S. Dollar (/DX) – The dollar is 0.4% lower to 96.5.
Biggest Premarket Movers (as of 7 AM ET - Mark % Change)
- Corning (GLW): +5.32%
- Micron (MU): +4.14%
- HCA Healthcare (HCA): +3.73%
- General Motors (GM): +3.63%
- Akamai (AKAM): +3.39%
- Humana (HUM): -16.44%
- UnitedHealth (UNH): -16.42%
- CVS Health (CVS): -12.96%
- Centene (CNC): -7.28%
- Elevance Health (ELV): -6.61%
Economic Data
- 9:00 AM ET: FHFA House Price Index, Case-Shiller Home Price Index
- 10:00 AM ET: Consumer Confidence, New Home Sales - Delayed
- 1:00 PM ET: 5-Year Note Auction
Notable Earnings
- Premarket: AAL, AIT, BA, GM, HCA, IVZ, JBLU, KMB, NOC, NEE, PCAR, PII, ROP, RTX, SYF, SYY, UNP, UPS, UNH
- Postmarket: BXP, FFIV, GEF, LOGI, NXT, PKG, PPG, QRVO, STX, LRN, TXN
- Premarket Tomorrow: APH, ASML, T, ADP, EAT, GLW, DHR, ELV, GEV, GD, LII, OTIS, PGR, SMG, SBUX, TEVA, TXT, UBS, VFC
- Postmarket Tomorrow: CHRW, CP, HXL, IBM, LRCX, LVS, LC, LEVI, MTH, META, MSFT, RJF, NOW, SLG, TSLA, URI, WHR, WM
Upgrades/Downgrades
- Deutsche Bank upgrades CoreWeave (CRWV) to Buy from Hold
- Wolfe Research upgrades Target (TGT) to Peer Perform from Underperform
- Needham upgrades Affirm (AFRM) to Buy from Hold
- Arete downgrades Mobileye (MBLY) to Neutral from Buy
- TD Cowen downgrades Procter & Gamble (PG) to Hold from Buy
- Morgan Stanley downgrades Alcoa (AA) to Equal Weight from Overweight

