S&P 500 rises as traders await Big Tech earnings: Live updates

The consumer mood in January hit its lowest point in nearly 12 years, according to a Conference Board survey released Tuesday.

The board’s headline consumer confidence index posted a reading of 84.5 for the month, well below the Dow Jones consensus outlook for 90.0. With an upward revision to the December number, the January reading represented a 9.7-point drop to its lowest level since May 2014.

“Confidence collapsed in January, as consumer concerns about both the present situation and expectations for the future deepened,” said Dana Peterson, the board’s chief economist.

Indeed, the present situation gauge slid 9.9 points to 113.7, while the expectations index, which measures the short-term look ahead, tumbled 9.5 points to 65.1, dropping further below the 80 cutoff that points to recessions.

A closely watched reading of labor conditions also deteriorated. The jobs “plentiful” response was at just 23.9%, down from 27.5% in December, while the “hard to get” response moved up to 20.8% from 19.1%.

— Jeff Cox

— Pia Singh, Annika Kim Constantino

The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite began Tuesday’s session in the green.

The broad market index rose 0.2% shortly after 9:30 a.m. ET, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq jumped 0.6%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 400 points, or 0.8%.

— Sean Conlon

Here are the companies making headlines before the bell:

• UnitedHealth, Humana, CVS Health — The medical insurance stocks dropped after the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services released a proposal to raise 2027 Medicare Advantage payment rates by just 0.09%, far lower than expectations for a 4-6% increase, according to FactSet. Shares of UnitedHealth Group and Humana dropped 15%, each. Shares of CVS Health slid nearly 13%.
• General Motors — The automaker jumped more than 4% after it reported better-than-expected earnings for the fourth quarter and issued a 2026 outlook that also exceeded analyst forecasts. On top of that, GM increased its quarterly dividend by 20% and announced a $6 billion stock buyback program.
• Boeing — The airplane maker gained 2% after reporting fourth quarter revenue of $23.95 billion, more than the $22.6 billion expected by analysts, according to LSEG. CEO Kelly Ortberg told staff there’s “a lot to be optimistic about.”

Read the full list here.

— Sarah Min

Affirm’s application for a bank charter will be a meaningful long-term driver for the company, according to Needham.

The investment firm upgraded the buy now, pay later stock to buy from hold. Analyst Kyle Peterson also set a $100 price target for the name, which signals upside of 46%.

Peterson’s upgrade follows Affirm’s application to establish Affirm Bank, a proposed Nevada-chartered industrial loan company. Under this license, Affirm Bank would operate as an independent subsidiary with its own set of internal controls and governance.

CNBC Pro subscribers can read more here.

— Lisa Kailai Han

A new deal with Nvidia bolsters CoreWeave’s long-term case as it heads into its upcoming earnings, according to Deutsche Bank.

Analyst Brad Zelnick upgraded the artificial intelligence infrastructure provider to buy from hold. He also raised his target price to $140 from $100, implying upside of 42%.

Nvidia on Monday said it had invested $2 billion into CoreWeave, which will help it accelerate its buildout of “5 gigawats of AI factories by 2030,” the companies said. Zelnick said this deal strengthened CoreWeave’s long-term case by helping to further validate its technical leadership.

“We don’t claim to be able predict with confidence how AI evolves over CY26 but all the signal we see today suggests demand growth continuing to outpace new capacity,” Zelnick added. “Until that changes and based on our favorable view of the setup, healthy GPU-level economics, and the asset quality of CoreWeave, this leave us comfortable upgrading the shares.”

CNBC Pro subscribers can read more here.

— Lisa Kailai Han

American Airlines projected Tuesday that its focus on premium will “begin delivering results in 2026” as the carrier races to catch up to its far more profitable rivals and capitalize on strong demand from high-spending customers.

The Fort Worth-based airline projected it will deliver nearly $2 of improvement in adjusted earnings per share at the midpoint over last year.

American expects to earn 7% to 10% more revenue in the first three months of 2026 compared with 2025. Read more.

— Laya Neelakandan, Leslie Josephs

General Motors reported better-than-expected earnings for the fourth quarter and issued a 2026 outlook that also exceeded analyst forecasts.

The automaker earned an adjusted $2.51 per share, topping an LSEG consensus of $2.20 per share. Revenue of $45.29 billion was just below a $45.8 billion estimate.

The company also increased its quarterly dividend by 20% and announced a $6 billion stock buyback program. Shares rose more than 4%.

— Michael Wayland, Fred Imbert

Threats by Democrats in Congress to oppose funding the government beyond Jan. 30 due to the action of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents have raised the odds of a shutdown above 70%, according to Jeremy Siegel, WisdomTree senior economist and an Emeritus Professor of Finance at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

That “should impede the upward movement in the market,” Siegel wrote in a newsletter Monday.

A second potential risk centers on White House trade policy. But even there, “Trump’s tariff rhetoric remains a background risk rather than a front-line macro threat,” said Siegel, famous for his 1994 book, “Stocks for the Long Run.”

Although he doesn’t expect it, Siegel said a prolonged move higher in Treasury yields could potentially prove another obstacle to stocks. “I would only grow concerned on implications for the equity markets if the 10-year were to move decisively above 5%, which could signal fiscal stress. We are not there,” the professor said. Instead, “leadership within the equity market is broadening. Small-cap stocks and value stocks are meaningfully outperforming in 2026, marking one of the strongest relative runs for value since the growth-led bull market began several years ago.”

— Scott Schnipper

Shares of several big-name health care companies plunged after the Trump administration proposed nearly flat rates for Medicare Advantage insurers.

Medicare Advantage plan provider Humana dropped nearly 13% in after-hours trading, while CVS Health and UnitedHealth Group lost more than 9.5% and 8.5%, respectively. Elevance Health lost about 5.5%, while Centene and Molina Healthcare each fell about 3%

The proposal entails a net average payment increase of 0.09% for Medicare Advantage plans in 2027, according to a release from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services on Monday. That number is significantly less than Wall Street analysts’ expectations that the agency would propose a rate increase of between 4% to 6% for next year.

The closely watched government payment rate determines how much insurers can charge for monthly premiums and plan benefits they offer, and ultimately, their profits. The Wall Street Journal first reported about the government’s rate proposal on Monday. Read more.

— Pia Singh, Annika Kim Constantino