Zijin Mining shares hit record high on plan to buy Canada’s Allied Gold

Investing.com-- U.S. stock index futures were little changed on Monday evening, with Dow futures slipping on a policy proposal from the Trump administration, while investors awaited a key Federal Reserve decision and heavyweight technology earnings.

S&P 500 Futures traded largely flat at 9,982.0 points, while Nasdaq 100 Futures gained 0.2% to 25,898.2 points by 19:54 ET (00:54 GMT). Dow Jones Futures were trading 0.3% lower at 49,409.0 points.

In regular trading, Wall St indices closed higher, with Dow Jones Industrial Average rising 0.6%, the S&P 500 gaining 0.5%, and NASDAQ Composite adding 0.4%.

Trump admin proposes flat rates for Medicare advantage

Dow futures fell modestly after several large health insurers dropped sharply in extended trading. The move followed a proposal by the Trump administration to set near-flat payment rates for Medicare Advantage plans, disappointing markets that had expected a more generous increase.

Shares of Unitedhealth Group (NYSE:UNH), Humana Inc (NYSE:HUM), and CVS Health Corp (NYSE:CVS), which operates Aetna, fell steeply after hours as investors warned that slower reimbursement growth could pressure margins in a business facing rising medical costs.

In other moves, President Donald Trump said he is raising tariffs on South Korean imports to 25% from 15%, accusing Seoul’s legislature of failing to approve a bilateral trade deal reached last year.

Fed decision, megacap earnings loom

Markets were largely in wait-and-see mode ahead of the Federal Reserve’s two-day policy meeting, which concludes on Wednesday.

The U.S. central bank is widely expected to leave interest rates unchanged, with policymakers seen to assess the impact of easing financial conditions, cooling inflation trends, and a labor market that has shown signs of gradual moderation.

Recent data has reinforced expectations that the Fed will avoid signaling near-term cuts, as officials seek greater confidence that inflation will move sustainably toward their 2% target.

Investors will scrutinize the Fed’s statement and Chair Jerome Powell’s press conference for clues on the timing and pace of potential rate cuts later in the year.

Attention is also firmly on earnings from the so-called “Magnificent Seven,” which are expected to set the tone for U.S. equities.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT), Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META), and Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) are all due to report results on Wednesday, while Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) is scheduled to release earnings on Thursday.

The results come after a strong but increasingly selective rally in technology shares, driven by optimism around artificial intelligence, cloud spending and productivity gains.

Market participants will focus on commentary from the megacaps around AI-related investment returns, consumer demand trends, and margin pressures from higher costs.

Investing.com-- Chinese sportswear maker ANTA Sports Products (HK:2020) said on Tuesday it agreed to buy a roughly 29% stake in European peer Puma SE (ETR:PUMG) from France’s Pinault family for about €1.5 billion ($1.78 billion), offering a lifeline to the struggling German company. 

Anta will buy 43 million shares in Puma for €35 per share in cash, the company said in a statement to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. The figure represents a 61% premium to Puma’s close on Monday. 

The deal is with Artemis, the investment arm of the Pinault family, and comes as a lifeline for Puma, which has been struggling with steadily deteriorating sales in recent years. Reports earlier in January said a deal between Anta and Puma was close. 

Artemis is led by Francois-Henro Pinault, chairman of fashion group Kering SA (EPA:PRTP). 

Anta has a history of taking over and revamping western brands, and owns several majors including Wilson, Precor, and Atomic. The company said it would work with Puma to preserve the company’s “strong brand identity and heritage,” and would help the company “fully realize its brand potential.” 

Anta has been pursuing a stake in Puma since at least 2019, earlier reports showed. 

Investing.com- Australia’s AUB Group (ASX:AUB) said on Tuesday it will buy UK insurance broker and underwriting platform Prestige for A$432 million ($298.7 million), accelerating its expansion in Britain and funding the deal with an equity raising and new debt.

AUB will acquire 95.9% of Prestige, which has more than 300 million pounds of gross written premium, valuing the business at 12.9 times calendar 2025 EBITDA before synergies, the company said in a statement.

The acquisition will lift AUB’s UK retail gross written premium to about 720 million pounds and mark its entry into the UK managing general agent segment, a largely untapped area for the group.

To fund the deal, AUB launched a fully underwritten A$400 million institutional placement and will offer up to A$40 million through a share purchase plan. It also secured an additional A$200 million debt facility from Macquarie Bank.

AUB reaffirmed its full-year 2026 profit guidance and said the Prestige deal is expected to be earnings-neutral before synergies and accretive thereafter. The transaction is subject to regulatory approval and is expected to complete before June 30, 2026.

Investing.com-- Salesforce Inc (NYSE:CRM) unit Computable Insights was awarded a nine-year contract to provide services to the U.S. army, the Department of War said on Monday. 

Computable Insights was awarded a firm-fixed-price contract worth $5.64 billion to “establish a decentralized enterprise agreement for Salesforce products and outcome-based services” to the DOW, the agency said on its website. 

The DOW said the completion date of the contract was estimated at June 26, 2035, and did not provide any details on the nature of the deal. 

Computable Insights is a unit of Salesforce and acts as a contracting vehicle for government contracts, especially with the U.S. army. The company secured a $100 million contract with the army for Salesforce software in 2025.

After-hours movers:

UnitedHealth Group (UNH) fell 8%, Humana (HUM) fell 14%, and CVS Health (CVS) fell 9% after the Trump administration proposed significantly lower-than-expected Medicare Advantage payment rates for 2027. The Wall Street Journal reported that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) plans to increase payments to Medicare Advantage insurers by just 0.09% on average next year.

• Alignment Healthcare Inc. (ALHC) and Elevance Health (ELV) shares were also sharply lower.

Sanmina (SANM) fell 7% after it announced guidance that disappointed investors. Sanmina sees Q2 2026 revenue of $3.1-3.4 billion, versus the consensus of $3.52 billion.

Nucor (NUE) fell 5% after publishing quarterly resulted that missed consensus on the top and bottom line.

Investing.com – U.S. stocks were higher after the close on Monday, as gains in the Technology, Utilities and Financials sectors led shares higher.

At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.64%, while the S&P 500 index gained 0.50%, and the NASDAQ Composite index added 0.43%.

The best performers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Cisco Systems Inc (NASDAQ:CSCO), which rose 3.24% or 2.42 points to trade at 77.01 at the close. Meanwhile, Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) added 2.97% or 7.37 points to end at 255.41 and Caterpillar Inc (NYSE:CAT) was up 1.48% or 9.30 points to 635.92 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were 3M Company (NYSE:MMM), which fell 1.94% or 3.16 points to trade at 159.52 at the close. Boeing Co (NYSE:BA) declined 1.52% or 3.82 points to end at 248.33 and Unitedhealth Group (NYSE:UNH) was down 1.30% or 4.62 points to 351.64.

The top performers on the S&P 500 were Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) which rose 5.38% to 143.68, Baker Hughes Co (NASDAQ:BKR) which was up 4.36% to settle at 56.27 and Akamai Technologies Inc (NASDAQ:AKAM) which gained 3.75% to close at 98.65.

The worst performers were Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) which was down 5.74% to 42.49 in late trade, Darden Restaurants Inc (NYSE:DRI) which lost 4.72% to settle at 196.43 and Steel Dynamics Inc (NASDAQ:STLD) which was down 4.41% to 173.32 at the close.

The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were 22nd Century Group Inc (NASDAQ:XXII) which rose 1,515.71% to 11.31, Brand Engagement Network Inc (NASDAQ:BNAI) which was up 276.70% to settle at 62.08 and Check Cap Ltd (NASDAQ:MBAI) which gained 112.08% to close at 3.16.

The worst performers were Dogness International Corp Class A (NASDAQ:DOGZ) which was down 76.21% to 2.70 in late trade, Happy City Holdings Ltd (NASDAQ:HCHL) which lost 55.01% to settle at 2.20 and Nvni Group Ltd (NASDAQ:NVNI) which was down 39.52% to 1.76 at the close.

Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the New York Stock Exchange by 1403 to 1335 and 92 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1979 fell and 1431 advanced, while 158 ended unchanged.

Shares in Baker Hughes Co (NASDAQ:BKR) rose to 5-year highs; rising 4.36% or 2.35 to 56.27. Shares in Dogness International Corp Class A (NASDAQ:DOGZ) fell to all time lows; losing 76.21% or 8.65 to 2.70. Shares in Brand Engagement Network Inc (NASDAQ:BNAI) rose to 52-week highs; up 276.70% or 45.60 to 62.08. Shares in Happy City Holdings Ltd (NASDAQ:HCHL) fell to all time lows; falling 55.01% or 2.69 to 2.20. Shares in Check Cap Ltd (NASDAQ:MBAI) rose to 52-week highs; up 112.08% or 1.67 to 3.16.

The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was up 0.37% to 16.15.

Gold Futures for April delivery was up 0.54% or 27.21 to $5,044.21 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in March fell 0.59% or 0.36 to hit $60.71 a barrel, while the April Brent oil contract fell 0.38% or 0.25 to trade at $64.82 a barrel.

EUR/USD was unchanged 0.41% to 1.19, while USD/JPY fell 0.98% to 154.20.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.54% at 96.88.