January 27th Pre-Market

Government near froze Medicare rates. India and EU bypassed us. Trade is routing around America.

Author

J.L. Bernstein
January 27, 2026

In partnership with

Good morning.

Health insurers are getting crushed after the government barely raised Medicare payment rates for 2027.

India and the EU just signed a trade deal that sidesteps Washington. And Trump threatened higher tariffs on Korea…markets didn't blink. Big Tech has got earnings this week and thats everyone’s real focus.

Let's dig in...

P.S. The afternoon report will always stay but I’m experimenting with a shorter premarket overview.

Today's Big Picture

Health Insurers Getting Hammered on Medicare News

The gov’t proposed a 0.09% rate increase for 2027 Medicare Advantage plans. Wall Street was expecting 4-6%. Good for people on medicare, bad for companies profit. UnitedHealth and Humana are leading the sector down as everyone recalculates what this means for margins.

India and EU Lock In Trade Deal

India and the EU finalized a deal that's been stuck for 20 years. The timing says everything…India was facing potential 50% US tariffs, the EU wants less dependence on Washington.

Indian car import duties drop from 110% to 10%. EU gets access to Indian textiles, pharma, and seafood. Markets moved immediately: Kitex Garments +12%, Go Fashion +9%. On the other side, Tata Motors, Mahindra, and Maruti all fell 4%+ on fears of European competition.

White House Raises Tariffs on South Korea

Trump announced he's raising Korean import tariffs from 15% to 25%, pointing to their legislature's failure to ratify a $350 billion investment commitment. Korean markets shrugged it off… KOSPI closed above 5,000 for the first time ever. Investors bought the dip because they've seen this playbook before. Until it's actually implemented, the market's treating it as negotiation theater.

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Stock Spotlight

General Motors $GM ( ▲ 1.44% ) 

Reported a quarterly loss from EV write-offs but beat expectations. Management hiked the dividend and approved a $6 billion buyback.

UnitedHealth $UNH ( ▲ 3.1% ) 

Gave soft revenue guidance for 2026 and is dealing with rising medical costs. Stock is taking a beating after the weak Medicare payment proposal.

Salesforce $CRM ( ▲ 2.31% ) 

Landed a $5.6 billion contract with the U.S. Army. Big win showing the government is serious about commercial software.

Climbing after Nvidia dropped another $2 billion into the company. Analysts are flipping to buy as infrastructure deals with OpenAI look more solid.

Beat quarterly estimates and gave upbeat revenue guidance for the year. The shipping giant is finally getting costs under control.

Down hard today on the Medicare news. They're heavily exposed to Medicare, so this policy shift hits them worse than most.

What to Watch

Federal Reserve Meeting Starts 
Two day session begins today, decision tomorrow. Rates probably stay flat, but what they say about future cuts will set the tone for February.

Big Tech Implied Moves 
Traders are pricing in big moves for Microsoft and Meta after earnings. For Tesla, focus is on robotaxi updates and full self-driving adoption since vehicle margins are still squeezed.

Consumer Confidence Data 
January's number hits at 10:00 AM EST today. Shows whether everyday people feel as good as the stock market looks.


Thanks for reading 🙂

- John

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