Closing Bell Movers: Heath insurers slide on lower CMS rate increase plan

Following a softer open in the futures markets overnight amid fears of another government shutdown, U.S. indices recovered at the start of the week with another session of gains.  Strength in shares of Alphabet (GOOGL) and Meta Platforms (META) propelled the Communication Services to the top of the sector rankings in the S&P 500 for the day.  Apple’s (AAPL) 3% gain supported the Tech sector, while Utilities ranked 3rd on the benchmark index in terms of performance. 

In the opening hour of the evening session, sentiment is a bit more mixed.  Dow Industrials futures are negative, weighed down by shares of United Health (UNH) which is falling 9% afterhours as CMS released Medicare Advantage 2027 price increase plan that are nowhere near consensus estimates.  S&P e-minis are flat while Nasdaq 100 is up 0.2%, with investors proving to be more willing to overlook threats of protectionism after President Trump announced a 10 point increase on exports from South Korea to 25%.  Korea’s Kospi, however, is headed for a lower open as the South Korea MSCI ETF – EWY – was down 1% on the news.

In commodities, precious metals are well off Monday’s highs – Gold is below $5,040 after rising over $5,100 while Silver is at $107 per ounce after approaching $120 earlier in the day.  WTI Crude Oil is slightly firmer, trading just below $61 per barrel.

Check out this evening’s top movers from around Wall Street, compiled by The Fly.

HIGHER AFTER EARNINGS –

• Triumph Financial (TFIN) up 3.5%
• FirstSun Capital  (FSUN) up 3.0%
• Graco (GGG) up 2.0%
• Alexandria Real Estate Equities (ARE) up 1.3%
• W. R. Berkley (WRB) up 0.5%
• Crane (CR) up 0.5%

DOWN AFTER EARNINGS –

• Agilysys (AGYS) down 12.7%
• Sanmina (SANM) down 8.2%
• Brown & Brown (BRO) down 6.1%
• Nucor (NUE) down 3.0%
• Park National (PRK) down 0.9%
• Enterprise Financial Services (EFSC) down 0.8% 

ALSO LOWER –

• UnitedHealth (UNH) down 8.7%, Oscar Health (OSCR) down 3.0%, Molina (MOH) down 3.0%, Humana (HUM) down 12.5%, CVS Health (CVS) down 9.4% after Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services release of 2027 Advance Notice for Medicare Advantage rate plan calling for just 0.09% increase vs. 4%-6% analyst estimates
• Ellington Financial (EFC) down 2.2% after equity offering