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A weekly roundup covering Magnificent Seven earnings, Fed rate pauses, U.S.-Iran tensions, and MarketBeat analysts' takes on stocks including Microsoft, Alphabet, Broadcom, Tesla, and UnitedHealth.

Medicare beneficiaries may face higher premiums next year for their Part D drug plans, as the federal government plans to end subsidies that helped mitigate price increases in the program. The Trump administration will not continue the subsidies beyond 2026, The Wall Street Journal reported. About 25 million Medicare recipients are enrolled in a stand-alone Part D plan for their drug coverage.

CNC's Q2 earnings and revenues top estimates as stronger premium and service revenues drive results despite lower membership and higher medical costs.

HUM enters Q2 earnings with strong premium and membership growth expectations, but rising medical costs and expenses could test its bottom line.

Molina healthcare has seen its stock edge down in recent days amid concerns about Medicaid cost pressures.

The company doubled its 2026 buyback target to at least $5 billion after already repurchasing $4 billion of shares.

The stock is still 25% off all-time highs.

Elevance Health raised its profit forecast and the stock promptly fell. Here’s the one number that explains why investors headed for the exits.

Investing.com -- U.S. stock index futures were mixed on Thursday as investors weighed lingering Middle East tensions, and focused on corporate earnings and further signs that U.S. inflationary pressures are easing.

UnitedHealth Stock Rallies as Profit, Revenue Top Wall Street Expectations

The health insurance giant posted adjusted earnings of $6.38 per share, well above Wall Street estimates, and lifted its full-year adjusted profit guidance to $19.50–$20.00 per share

UnitedHealth Group crushed Q2 earnings forecasts amid lower-than-expected benefit costs and gave a big boost to its full-year outlook. Humana, Centene and CVS Health all got a sizable lift from the warm reception for UnitedHealth's earnings report.

Investing.com -- UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) reported second quarter results that exceeded analyst expectations across earnings, revenue and guidance, sending shares up 7% premarket as investors responded positively to the healthcare giant's improved outlook.

The healthcare giant posts better-than-expected second-quarter earnings and hikes its full-year guidance.

Guardant Health (GH) investors have a new number to think about this week. Bernstein SocGen Group raised its price target on the cancer-screening company's stock to $200 a share, up from $175. Bernstein also kept its Outperform rating intact. The new price target came less than a day after a ...

The S&P 500 index was up about 0.3%, while the Nasdaq Composite fell 0.4%.

UnitedHealth Group, CVS Health and other S&P 500 health insurance giant rallied on Thursday morning after price-target hikes from Morgan Stanley and a UNH upgrade from BofA. The analysts highlighted moderating health care utilization trends and a tailwind to profitability from deploying AI.

U.S. stock futures were mostly lower, led by losses in the Nasdaq-100, after Broadcom’s disappointing guidance.

Stocks opened higher after a pair of healthy economic reports, with the Dow getting a boost to 50,000 from Cisco’s strong earnings. The Dow was up 0.8%, to trade at 50,080.30. The picture for the U.S. economy is positive, with retail sales coming in healthy and jobless claims showing the labor market continues to hum.

CVS Health’s Aetna was the third-largest provider of Medicare Advantage plans in 2025, behind UnitedHealth Group and Humana.