The S&P 500 barely managed a record closing high on Tuesday, its fifth straight day of gains, with investor optimism ahead of megacap earnings reports being countered by a mixed reception to the latest earnings reports and a massive selloff in health insurer stocks, APA reports, citing Reuters.

UnitedHealth (UNH.N) led losses in healthcare stocks and in the Dow Jones Industrial Average (.DJI) with a 19.6% tumble after the Trump administration proposed an increase in Medicare insurer payment rates. The plan was another woe added to the insurer’s disappointing revenue forecast for 2026. Following suit were insurance peers Humana (HUM.N), down 21% and CVS (CVS.N), down 14.2%.

Investors were more encouraged by General Motors (GM.N) earnings, which saw its shares rally 8.7% after it reported higher fourth-quarter core profit.

And with some high-profile earnings reports due out this week, technology stocks extended Monday’s gains, with heavyweights Microsoft (MSFT.O), Amazon (AMZN.O), Nvidia (NVDA.O), Apple (AAPL.O), and Broadcom (AVGO.O) providing the market’s biggest boosts.

With this, the Nasdaq touched its highest level since late October and the S&P 500 also touched an intraday record high and neared the 7,000 milestone, while also marking its fourth record closing high so far in 2026.

"There’s a little bit of a bifurcated market today with the Dow down because of the announcements around Medicare premiums," said Phil Blancato, chief market strategist at Osaic Wealth in New York. "When you look at everything else, the market seems to be hanging in there waiting for a big week of earnings."

Also on Tuesday, U.S. consumer confidence unexpectedly deteriorated in January, slumping to its lowest level since 2014, but Blancato noted that, surprisingly, the "pretty terrible number" didn’t have much of an impact on the stock market.

Along with investor focus on earnings reports and U.S. policy decisions, Adam Rich, deputy chief investment officer and portfolio manager at Vaughan Nelson Investment Management, noted that the recent decline in the U.S. dollar, including a drop of over 1% on Tuesday, is good news for U.S. equities as a weak dollar helps U.S. exports.

"This currency move is really positive for S&P earnings going forward," said Rich.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (.DJI) fell 408.99 points, or 0.83%, to 49,003.41, the S&P 500 (.SPX) gained 28.37 points, or 0.41%, to 6,978.60, and the Nasdaq Composite (.IXIC) gained 215.74 points, or 0.91%, to 23,817.10.