Good morning, you're listening to Markets Desk.
CVS Health delivered a strong beat this quarter, with every major segment clearing the bar — Aetna, retail pharmacy, and health services all came in ahead of expectations. Management followed through by hiking its full-year outlook, signaling the insurer believes its cost controls and membership trends are holding firm into the back half of the year.
Staying in healthcare, Oscar Health posted its highest profit in company history — six hundred seventy nine million dollars in the first quarter alone. Membership surged more than fifty percent as Obamacare enrollment climbed and medical costs eased, a combination that turned what was once a chronic money-loser into a genuine earnings story. Investors are watching whether that cost discipline holds as the member base scales.
Meanwhile, a geopolitical headline is moving markets globally this morning. Reports of the United States and Iran nearing a peace agreement have sparked a broad risk-on rally across equities worldwide. When that kind of tail risk comes off the table, you tend to see money rotate back into cyclicals and energy spreads compress — and that appears to be exactly what traders are pricing in right now.
That's the tape. Markets Desk, signing off the floor.
