Stocks moved lower in early trading Friday as a sharp decline in shares of UnitedHealth weighed heavily on the Dow Jones Industrial Average.
The Dow was down 0.8% about 20 minutes after the opening bell, while the S&P 500 fell 0.3% and the Nasdaq Composite slipped 0.1%. The major indexes, which closed lower on Thursday after two straight days of gains that boosted the S&P 500 to record highs, are now on pace to post losses for the week.
UnitedHealth Group (UNH) shares were down 9% after the Wall Street Journal reported that the Department of Justice is investigating the health insurer’s Medicare billing practices. Shares of other insurers, including CVS Health (CVS), Humana (HUM), Cigna (CI) and Centene (CNC) also lost ground.
Shares of large-cap technology companies were mixed this morning. Apple (AAPL), Nvidia (NVDA), Amazon (AMZN), Tesla (TSLA) and Broadcom (AVGO) were down, while Microsoft (MSFT), Alphabet (GOOG) and Meta Platforms (META) inched higher.
A handful of stocks were making big moves after the release of earnings reports. Cloud storage provider Dropbox (DBX) and fintech company Block (XYZ) were down 11% and 13%, respectively, while beverages company Celsius Holdings (CELH) soared 30% and e-commerce company MercadoLibre (MELI) jumped 8%.
Among other noteworthy movers, Coinbase (COIN) was up more than 3% after the crypto exchange said the Securities and Exchange Commission will drop an enforcement case against the company.
Bitcoin was at $98,800 this morning, up from around $98,000 late yesterday and trading near its highest level since Feb. 4.
Gold futures were down 0.4% at $2,945 an ounce, after hitting a record high on Thursday, while West Texas intermediate crude oil futures slid 1.5% to $71.40 per barrel.
The yield on 10-year Treasurys, which is correlated with expectations about where interest rates are headed, was at 4.46%, down from 4.50% at yesterday’s close.
UnitedHealth Plunges on News of DOJ Probe
1 hr 16 min ago
UnitedHealth Group (UNH) shares tumbled in premarket trading Friday following a report that the U.S. Department of Justice is investigating the healthcare giant’s Medicare billing practices.
According to The Wall Street Journal, the DOJ is investigating whether UnitedHealth tends to over-diagnose conditions that can earn it extra payouts from the Medicare Advantage program. The newspaper had reported on allegations of the practice in December, with doctors telling the outlet they were trained to “document revenue-generating diagnoses, including some they felt were obscure or irrelevant.”
The DOJ and UnitedHealth did not immediately respond to Investopedia requests for comment.
UnitedHealth previously has criticized the Journal‘s reporting on Medicare Advantage. The company has said the reports “clearly demonstrate that the Journal does not understand the Medicare Advantage program,” calling the reporting a “one-sided, biased attack.”
The news was also weighing on other health insurer stocks Friday, with CVS Health (CVS), Cigna (CI), Humana (HUM) and Centene (CNC) all tumbling.
UnitedHealth shares were down 13% about half an hour hour before the opening bell, set to trade at their lowest level since last April.
Futures Point to Mixed Open for Major Indexes
1 hr 47 min ago
Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average were down 0.5%.
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S&P 500 futures were up 0.1%.
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Nasdaq 100 futures rose 0.4%.
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