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UnitedHealth Group Inc beat market estimates for quarterly
profit on strong demand in its health insurance business. The
Dow component's shares rose 0.6% in premarket trading.
Bank of America Corp gained 1.8% after reporting a jump in
fourth-quarter profit, benefiting from loan growth and a boom in
global dealmaking activity.
"We've got some fresh earnings coming in and investors are
looking ahead to those earnings and, for the moment, temporarily
shrugging off concerns over higher inflation," said Susannah
Streeter, senior investment and markets analyst at Hargreaves
Lansdown.
Most other big banks, however, commenced the fourth-quarter
earnings season on a soft footing. JPMorgan Chase & Co,
Citigroup and Goldman Sachs Group Inc reported disappointing
results, knocking off the S&P 500 financial sector as well as
the banks index from record highs.
Morgan Stanley rose 0.5% ahead of its quarterly showing, which
will wrap up earnings from the big lenders.
Earnings from S&P 500 companies are expected to grow 23.1%
year-over-year in the fourth quarter, according to IBES
estimates from Refinitiv.
The Nasdaq index was a hair's breadth away from confirming a 10%
correction at close on Tuesday, having lost 9.7% from its Nov.
19 record closing high.
The index also closed below its 200-day moving average, a key
technical support level, for the first time in almost two years,
as the tech-heavy index has been pressured by a jump in
benchmark U.S. Treasury yields. [US/]
Shares of beaten-down megacap growth companies, including Apple
Inc, Microsoft Corp, Alphabet Inc, Tesla Inc, Meta Platforms Inc
and Netflix Inc, rose up to 1%.
Investors now await next week's Federal Reserve policy meeting
for more cues on the central bank's plan to control inflation.
Data last week showed U.S. consumer prices increased strongly in
December, adding up to the largest annual rise in inflation in
nearly four decades.
At 7:00 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were up 82 points, or 0.23%, S&P
500 e-minis were up 13.25 points, or 0.29%, and Nasdaq 100
e-minis were up 67 points, or 0.44%.
United Airlines rose 0.5% ahead of its fourth-quarter earnings
after markets close. Last week, peer Delta Air Lines reported
better-than-expected results.
(Reporting by Shreyashi Sanyal and Bansari Mayur Kamdar in
Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel and Saumyadeb Chakrabarty)
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