
US stocks today: Dow, S&P 500 hit record high, UnitedHealth shares jump over 10%. What is driving the surge?
The shares of the insurance firm, UnitedHealth Group, jumped more than 10% on Friday after Warren Buffett's Omaha-based investment giant, Berkshire Hathaway, disclosed its stake in the troubled firm.
UnitedHealth Group shares were trading 11.64% higher at $303.08 as of 10:19 a.m. (EDT) on Friday's US stock market session, compared to $271.49 at the previous Wall Street close.
In the last five years, the shares of UnitedHealth Group have lost 6.62% in the US markets, and are down 47.85% in the last one-year period.
On a year-to-date (YTD) basis, the stock has lost 40.08% in 2025. However, the shares of the firm have given US stock market investors more than 18.98% gains in the last five market sessions on Wall Street.
UnitedHealth's market capitalisation (M-Cap) was at $245.88 billion as of the trading session on Friday, 15 August 2025. The shares of the insurance firm hit their 52-week low level at $234.60, while the 52-week high level was at $630.73, according to the data collected from MarketWatch.
(This is a developing story. Please check back for updates)
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Indian Express
21 minutes ago
- Indian Express
‘They felt like they weren't upto the mark': TISS scholar helps girls to clear obstacles on way back to schools: fear, trauma
When Usman Mahendi helped a group of girls from a small town in Uttar Pradesh, who had dropped out from schools for various reasons, to get back to studies, he faced an unexpected response: they were more worried than happy. Mahendi, the founder of Uttar Pradesh-based Panth Foundation, said that there are multiple reasons for this including fear of getting dropped out again or 'not being upto the mark'. 'This was strange. Here we had girls, whom we had fought with everyone to get back to education but they were worried. They were worried that they would again drop out, they felt they were not upto the mark. We realised it was not just stress. The girls had trauma which bordered depression,' said 34-year-old Mahendi, a PhD scholar from Tata Institute of Social Science (TISS) in Mumbai, who had taken up the task to get girls back into education. The realisation that the girls were stressed out saw Mahendi reach out to mental health professional Faizan Abdulaziz Maniyar who was roped in to conduct a mental health workshop for the girls. 'Talking to the girls made me understand the trauma they were facing. Most of the girls had started showing physical symptoms. It took extensive work to ensure the girls realise that what they were going through was natural and can be resolved by creation of safe spaces,' he said. Maniyar, who had worked as a Human Resources professional with an MNC before plunging into the world of mental health , said this was the first time he had come across such a phenomenon. 'Here we had girls who were getting a second chance but they were worried if they would be able to make use of it. Given that mental health is hardly talked about, this was our first brush with the mental health that students face at the grassroot level,' he said. At the national level, the drop out ratio at secondary level is above 10 per cent but is higher among girls than boys, as per the information provided by the Unified District Information System for Education portal. Thus by the time girls reach Class 10, chances of them dropping out are more than boys. Mahendi's idea of the Panth Foundation started from his close working in the Muzaffarnagar area in the education and development sector. He came up with the idea when he realised many girls dropped out after class 8 for various reasons. 'Most of them finish their class 8 due to the implementation of the Right to Education (RTE) Act. But after that girls drop out for many reasons- ranging from financial issues to social belief that girls need not study much,' he said. It was to address these issues, Mahendi said, that Panth Foundation was founded last year and through its outreach in the community to get girls back to school. While last year, the foundation had managed to get 15 girls back to school, this year they have managed to get 50 girls back, he added. Speaking about this interaction with the girls, Maniyar shared the insights he got from them. 'One girl, with her hands trembling, spoke of the constant fear that she might be forced to drop out again. She had fought her way back into school, but the thought of losing it again sat like a stone on her chest. Her dream is to become a lawyer, to stand up for people in her community who have no one to fight for them. Another girl told us about her best friend, who had died by suicide. No one had told her about the funeral. Some even blamed her for the death. Now, she climbs to her rooftop and talks to her friend's grave from a distance. She had never shared this with anyone before that day,' he said. Most girls said they were worried about their performance and it bordered trauma for them. For girls who have dropped out, getting back is not an easy feat. Even if the girls and families are ready to continue, finance becomes an obstruction. The government schools have limited seats and private education can be out of bound for the girls. 'We manage to bridge the economic gap through donations from friends but we want girls to get back to school,' Mahendi said. As part of their learning from this year, Mahendi said they have decided to add mental health workshops in every quarter. 'Mental health in this sector is important. For the girls who are getting back to school, it is the thin line that would make them choose whether to continue or not,' he said.


Economic Times
23 minutes ago
- Economic Times
This Bangalore-based professional can save Rs 70k income tax just by switching to new tax regime
WRITE TO US FOR HELP Bengaluru-based Avinash Tandon is a finance professional. He has chosen the old regime because he has a joint home loan with his wife and invests in many tax-saving instruments, including ELSS ( equitylinked savings scheme ) funds and the National Pension System (NPS). He pays a high tax as his salary structure is not he will save more if he shifts to the new tax regime . The new regime offers no deductions and exemptions, but the standard deduction is higher at Rs.75,000, and tax slabs are wider, with lower rates. Even if no deductions are available, there is room for tax savings. He is already contributing 14% of his basic salary to the NPS, which is tax-free under the new regime (10% of basic salary under the old regime), and he should continue with has also invested about Rs.4 lakh in fixed deposits and NSCs ( National Savings Certificates ), and earns an interest of Rs.30,000 on these. To save tax, he should switch from these investments to debt funds or arbitrage schemes. While the interest income is taxed every year, in debt and arbitrage funds it is applicable only at the time of withdrawal. This can reduce his tax liability by Rs.9, has also made long-term capital gains of Rs.2.5 lakh from stocks and equity funds . Regular harvesting of capital gains to remain within the tax-free limit of Rs.1.25 lakh can help reduce tax he can reduce his overall tax by more than Rs.70,000 by shifting from the old to the new tax regime Paying too much tax? Write to us at etwealth@ with 'Optimise my tax' as the subject. Our experts will tell you how to reduce your tax by rejigging your pay and investments.


Economic Times
23 minutes ago
- Economic Times
Shares nudge higher in Asia, oil slips on truce talks
Markets imply around an 85% chance of a quarter-point rate cut at the Fed's meeting on September 17, and are priced for a further easing by December. Asian stock markets edged higher, with the Nikkei reaching a new high, as investors anticipate the Jackson Hole symposium and potential shifts in U.S. interest rate policy. Oil prices slipped amid easing concerns about Russian supply disruptions, while the dollar remained defensive ahead of the Fed conference. Markets are pricing in a high probability of a September rate cut. Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads Solid Earnings Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads Share markets edged higher in Asia on Monday ahead of what is likely to be an eventful week for U.S. interest rate policy , while oil prices slipped as risks to Russian supplies seemed to fade a little.U.S. President Donald Trump now seemed more aligned with Moscow on seeking a peace deal with Ukraine instead of a ceasefire first, after meeting Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska on will meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and European leaders later on Monday to discuss the next steps, though actual proposals are vague as major economic event of the week will be the Kansas City Federal Reserve's August 21-23 Jackson Hole symposium, where Chair Jerome Powell is due to speak on the economic outlook and the central bank's policy framework."Chair Powell will likely signal that risks to the employment and inflation mandates are coming into balance, setting up the Fed to resume returning policy rate to neutral," said Andrew Hollenhorst, chief economist at Citi Research."But Powell will stop short of explicitly signalling a September rate cut, awaiting the August jobs and inflation reports," he added. "This would be fairly neutral for markets already fully pricing a September cut."Markets imply around an 85% chance of a quarter-point rate cut at the Fed's meeting on September 17, and are priced for a further easing by prospect of lower borrowing costs globally have underpinned stock markets and Japan's Nikkei firmed 0.5% to a fresh record broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was a fraction lower, having hit a four-year top last 50 futures rose 0.3%, while FTSE futures and DAX futures gained 0.2%.S&P 500 futures nudged up 0.1%, while Nasdaq futures added 0.2% with both near all-time have been underpinned by a solid earnings season as S&P 500 EPS grew 11% on the year and 58% of companies raised their full-year guidance."Earnings results have continued to be exceptional for the mega-cap tech companies," noted analysts at Goldman Sachs. "While Nvidia has yet to report, the Magnificent 7 apparently grew EPS by 26% year/year in 2Q, a 12% beat relative to consensus expectation coming into earnings season."This week's results will provide some colour on the health of consumer spending with Home Depot, Target, Lowe's and Walmart all bond markets, the chance of Fed easing is keeping down short term Treasury yields while the longer end is pressured by the risk of stagflation and giant budget deficits, leading to the steepest yield curve since bonds also have been pressured by the prospect of increased borrowing to fund defence spending, pushing German long-term yields to 14-year on more Fed easing has weighed on the dollar, which dropped 0.4% against a basket of currencies last week to last stand at dollar was a fraction firmer on the yen at 147.33 , while the euro held at $1.1704 after adding 0.5% last dollar has fared better against its New Zealand counterpart as the country's central bank is widely expected to cut rates to 3.0% on commodity markets, gold was stuck at $3,328 an ounce after losing 1.9% last prices struggled as Trump backed away from threats to place more restrictions on Russian oil dropped 0.4% to $65.61 a barrel, while U.S. crude eased 0.2% to $62.67 per barrel.