All NewsFebruary 21, 2025

Stock Market Today: Stocks turn lower on growth worries; UnitedHealth slumps

U.S. stocks turned lower in mid-day Friday trading, putting the S&P 500 into negative territory for the week, as weak private sector activity data offset a modest pullback in Treasury bond yields and solid gains for global stocks tied to a rally in China tech.

Updated at 12:21 PM EST

Mexican Apple?

Apple  (AAPL)  shares nudged higher, defying the broader market slide, following comments from President Donald Trump that suggested the tech giant would build new manufacturing facilities in the U.S.

Trump said he’s met and spoken with CEO Tim Cook, who told him a new plant would be built in the U.S., and not Mexico. It remains unclear what plants he’s referring to, as Apple’s main supplier, Taiwan-based Foxconn, is building facilities in Mexico. 

Apple shares were last marked 0.63% higher, against a 1.03% decline for the Nasdaq, and changing hands at $247.13 each.

Updated at 10:01 AM EST

Slowing growth

S&P Global’s February index of private sector business and manufacturing activity slowed notably from the previous month, suggesting some lost momentum for the world’s biggest economy heading into the start of the year.

The headline PMI index fell 2.3 points to 50.4, just a shade over the 50 point mark that separate growth from contraction, while the key reading for the services sector, the engine of the domestic economy, fell 2.8 points to 49.7. 

The S&P 500 turned lower following the data release and was last down 18 points, or 0.3%, while benchmark 10-year Treasury note yields fell another 3 basis points to 4.466%.

Updated at 9:36 AM EST

Mixed open

The S&P 500 was marked 5 points, or 0.09% lower in the opening minutes of trading, while the Nasdaq gained 34 points, or 0.17%.

The Dow fell 245 points, all of tied to UnitedHealth’s 9.9% decline, and the mid-cap Russell 2000 rose 13points, or 0.58%.

“Investors are climbing a ‘wall of worry’ to some extent, as the Trump administration ploughs its own furrow, delighting some observers and shocking others,” said David Morrison, Senior Market Analyst at TradeNation.

“Trump’s tariff threats overhang the market to some extent. But investors have chosen to ignore them for now, believing that they remain a negotiating tool, not just economically, but as leverage for the US President over other issues as well,” he added. “Meanwhile, US Treasury yields have ticked lower, with the 10-year back below 4.50% this morning, down from 4.64% last week. This is helping to lift equities generally.” 

Updated at 9:04 AM EST

A new coin?

Coinbase Global  (COIN)  shares jumped in early trading after the Securities and Exchange Commission dropped its lawsuit against the digital currency trading platform.

Coinbase said the suit, which accused it of running an illegal exchange, marks a significant advance in the crypto sector’s long battle for clear and consistent regulation. 

“The war against crypto, at least as it applies to Coinbase, is over,” Coinbase’s chief legal officer Paul Grewal told Reuters. “We have a very positive, productive relationship with this new SEC and working lock step with them, arm in arm, to get this addressed.”

Coinbase shares were last marked 4.9% higher in premarket trading to indicate an opening bell price of $269.07 each.

Updated at 7:29 AM EST

UnitedHealth Doj probe

UnitedHealth  (UNH)  shares tumbled in early trading following a report that the U.S. Department of Justice has launched a probe into the health insurance giant’s Medicare Advantage practices.

The Wall Street Journal said the investigation would center on UnitedHealth’s diagnosis recordings that trigger extra Medicare Advantage payments but aren’t followed up with actual patient care.  

Last year, a report from the Office of Inspector General for the Department of Health and Human Services said UnitedHealth and other Medicare Advantage insurers collected $7.5 billion in dubious payments in 2022. UnitedHealth took in $3.7 billion. 

UnitedHealth shares were last marked 7.5% lower in premarket trading to indicate an opening-bell price of $463.50.

Stock Market Today

Stocks ended lower across the board last night, with the S&P 500 dragged lower by bank and retail stocks. The market move followed Walmart’s  (WMT)  disappointing profit and sales outlook and a pullback in so-called momentum trade stocks tied to renewed tariff and inflation risks.

A grim reading for January housing starts as well underscored the impact that pending tariffs on goods from Canada and Mexico are likely to have on the broader economy.

The benchmark reading helped Treasury yields pare gains despite the linger inflation concerns echoed in hawkish minutes from the Federal Reserve’s policy meeting earlier in the week.

Benchmark 10-year Treasury notes slipped under 4.5% in overnight trading, while 2-year notes eased to 4.262%, helping stock futures ride the wave of overseas gains into the final trading day of the week.

Tech giant Alibaba, the Amazon of Asia, has ignited a huge rally in China stocks. 

Hong-Kong-listed shares of China-based tech companies closed out their strongest week of gains in five years, and the best single-day advance since October. The advance followed Alibaba’s  (BABA) better-than-expected fourth quarter earnings and ongoing bullishness from DeepSeek’s late-January emergence. 

Reports also suggest the GameStop  (GME)  CEO and billionaire investor Ryan Cohen has taken a $1 billion in Alibaba, a move that could validate the bullish China tech thesis.

“We do not believe Cohen is alone in his bets on Alibaba as it’s becoming clearer this could be one of the winners in the China AI Arms Race,” said Wedbush analyst Dan Ives. 

“Clearly the US/China trade tensions abound, but investors like Cohen are looking past this and trying to make bets on Alibaba and the China tech market, a smart move in our view.”

Related: Analyst revisits Nvidia stock price target with Q4 earnings in focus

The gains helped the regional MSCI ex-Japan benchmark to a 1.34% advance, taking the benchmark to its highest levels in three months and extending its longest weekly winning streak in two years. 

European stocks were also on the move, with the regional Stoxx 600 benchmark rising 0.38% in early Frankfurt trading heading into Sunday’s federal elections in Germany. 

More Wall Street Analysis:

Analysts are expecting a solid win for a conservative coalition led by Christian Democrat Friedrich Merz, with investors likely focused on the rise of the far-right and anti-European AfD party in Sunday’s poll.

Heading into the start of the trading day on Wall Street, futures contracts tied to the S&P 500, which is up 1.72% for the month, are priced for a 4-point opening-bell gain.

Futures linked to the Dow Jones Industrial Average, meanwhile, suggest a 57-point bump while the tech-focused Nasdaq is called 40 points higher. 

Related: Veteran fund manager issues dire S&P 500 warning for 2025