The S&P 500 notched a record closing high and its fifth straight day of gains on Tuesday with a mixed reception to the latest earnings reports and a steep sell-off in health insurers countering optimism ahead of mega-cap reports.

UnitedHealth led losses in healthcare stocks and the Dow took a massive tumble after the Trump administration proposed an increase in Medicare insurer payment rates. The plan was another woe added to the insurer's disappointing revenue forecast for 2026. Also sliding were insurance peers Humana and CVS.

In more encouraging earnings news, bellwether United Parcel Service rallied after it projected higher revenue for 2026, also pulling up shares in rival FedEx. General Motors shares also rallied after it reported higher fourth-quarter core ‍profit.

And with mega-cap earnings reports due to kick off this week, technology stocks extended Monday's gains, with Microsoft, Nvidia, Apple, ⁠Amazon and Broadcom providing some of the market's biggest boosts.

With this, the Nasdaq touched its highest level since late October while the S&P 500 touched an intraday record high and neared the 7,000 milestone.

"There's a little bit of a bifurcated market today with the Dow down because of the announcements around Medicare premiums," Phil Blancato, chief market strategist at Osaic Wealth in New York. "When you look at everything else, the market seems to be hanging in there waiting for a big week of earnings."

Also on Tuesday, US consumer confidence unexpectedly deteriorated in January, slumping to its lowest level since 2014, but Blancato noted that surprisingly, the "pretty terrible number" didn't have much of an impact on the stock market.

The S&P 500 rose 0.4 percent, to 6,978, the Dow fell 0.8 percent, to 49,003, while the Nasdaq rose 0.9 percent, to 23,817. (Reuters)