Stocks zigzag as S&P 500 nears a record; UnitedHealth drops while Corning jumps on Meta deal

A market split beneath the surface

Wall Street hovered near a record as Tuesday’s trading showed a familiar pattern of sharp crosscurrents: the headline index rose, but many individual stocks declined. The Associated Press reported that the S&P 500 was up modestly and flirting with its all-time high, even as the Dow fell and the Nasdaq gained, reflecting a tug-of-war between sectors and company-specific earnings surprises.

Investors were parsing profit reports from a wide range of companies, looking for confirmation that corporate earnings can keep pace with valuations after a strong run in U.S. equities. With several of the market’s biggest technology firms set to report later in the week, traders were also positioning for the next catalysts.

UnitedHealth slump highlights insurer jitters

One of the day’s biggest drags came from UnitedHealth Group, which fell sharply after posting quarterly results. According to the AP, the more significant market reaction centered on the company’s forward-looking revenue forecast, which came in below what analysts expected and suggested slower growth ahead.

Health insurers were also pressured by government projections for Medicare Advantage rate increases that came in lower than investors had anticipated. That dynamic weighed on peers across the sector, reinforcing concerns that margins in a major line of business could be tighter than the market had priced in.

Corning rallies on a major Meta agreement

Helping offset the insurer slide, Corning jumped after announcing a deal with Meta Platforms that the AP said could be worth up to $6 billion. Corning is set to supply optical fiber and cable used in building out data centers, a category increasingly driven by AI-related infrastructure demand and large-scale cloud expansion.

The company said the agreement was large enough to support an expansion of optical-fiber manufacturing capacity in Hickory, North Carolina, signaling how data-center buildouts are spilling into industrial investment and regional manufacturing planning.

Earnings winners, layoffs, and the Fed in focus

Other notable movers included companies that beat profit expectations and authorized stock buybacks, such as General Motors and hospital operator HCA Healthcare, which the AP described as among the market’s supports. UPS rose even as it announced significant job cuts, pairing cost reductions with a revenue outlook that was better than analysts forecast.

The market’s next major macro event is the Federal Reserve’s interest-rate decision, expected to keep rates steady. Traders are balancing the possibility of later cuts against the risk that inflation remains stubbornly above the Fed’s target, complicating the path for easier financial conditions in 2026.