Wall Street Stocks Fall on UnitedHealth Investigation
Wall Street stocks fell in early trade Friday as UnitedHealth Group shares fell on reports of a government investigation into the healthcare giant’s billing practices.
UnitedHealth stock fell more than 9%, weighing on the Dow, after the Wall Street Journal reported that the Justice Department is investigating allegations that the company directed doctors to make patient diagnoses that would result in higher government payments under the US Medicare Advantage programme.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.8 per cent at 43,820.28 after 20 minutes of trading.
The broad-based S&P 500 fell 0.2 per cent to 6,102.66, while the technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index fell less than 0.1 per cent to 19,955.24.
Credit: Barron’s
US stocks are slightly lower this week, which has been rather light in terms of economic reports.
Among individual firms, Coinbase rose 2.8 per cent after the cryptocurrency exchange said that the Securities and Exchange Commission had decided to dismiss a case against it filed during the Biden administration.
