The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at another record level on Tuesday despite a string of weak earnings reports and new concerns about global economic growth.
Even blue-chip companies that beat expectations slid on the day as the reality of Wall Street’s underwhelming expectations set in. For quite some time Wall Street analysts have lowered expectations of company performance, only to see a stock rally after beating these weakened expectations.
While earnings figures dominated Tuesday discussions on trading floors in New York and Chicago, a number of other stories rattled investor confidence and created a handful of new trading opportunities for the informed. Let’s dive into those stories right now.
First, check out the results for the Dow Jones, S&P 500, and Nasdaq:
Dow Jones: 18,559.01; +25.96;Â +0.14%Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â
S&P 500: 2,163.78; -3.11;Â -0.14%Â Â Â
Nasdaq: 5,036.37; -19.41;Â -0.38%
Now, here’s the top stock market news today… and your best ways to profit.
DJIA Today: Government Moves to Block Obamacare-Driven Mergers
Brexit was back in the news today after the International Monetary Fund announced that Britain’s potential departure from the European Union offered “substantial risk” to the broader world economy. The IMF said that global economic growth would only register at 3.1% in 2016 and 3.4% in 2017. Both of these numbers are downward revisions. The IMF also downwardly revised expected U.S. growth by 0.2%, a revision driven by poor performance in the first quarter.
Meanwhile, U.S. regulators are turning their attention to the healthcare sector.
Even though UnitedHealth Group Inc. (NYSE: UNH) beat top- and bottom-line earnings expectations, shares have been weighed down on regulatory concerns for the broader insurance sector. According to reports, antitrust officials at the U.S. Justice Department are working to block mergers between Anthem Inc. (NYSE: ANTM) and Cigna Corp. (NYSE: CI), and Aetna Inc. (NYSE: AET) and Humana Inc. (NYSE: HUM). Shares of these four stocks all fell at least 1.5% on the day.
