Dow and S&P 500 futures rose on Friday as expectations of a September interest rate cut strengthened. Shares of UnitedHealth Group gained more than 12% in pre-market trading after Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway announced it had acquired new shares in the company. Documents also showed that Michael Burry’s Scion Asset Management had taken a position in the company.
This year, the health insurance giant’s 46% decline and rising costs in the general healthcare sector have caused the Dow index to lag behind other major Wall Street indices. However, this week the healthcare sector was the strongest performer in the S&P 500. Shares of Elevance, Centene, and Molina all rose by more than 4.4%. Markets are finding support on expectations that the Fed will resume monetary easing with a 25 basis point interest rate cut in September. The weakening labor market and the fact that the impact of tariffs on inflation has not yet been reflected in consumer prices have given investors confidence in the possibility of a dovish move.
As of 05:38 ET, Dow futures were up 285 points (0.63%), S&P 500 futures were up 3 points (0.06%), while Nasdaq 100 futures were down 46.5 points (0.19%).
In other stocks, Applied Materials fell 14.8% after reporting lower-than-expected fourth-quarter estimates due to weak Chinese demand.
KLA and Lam Research shares also fell by 6.1% and 5.6% respectively. Intel, on the other hand, rose by 2.8% in addition to its weekly gain of 20% following news that the Trump administration might invest in the company.Oil prices fell to around $65, while the Trump-Putin meeting, which increased market expectations for a solution to the Ukraine crisis, will take place in Alaska at 19:00 GMT.
