Health insurers rally after CMS increases payment to Medicare Advantage plans. (00:21) Nvidia (NVDA) closes deal to acquire startup Lepton AI: report. (01:41) China pledges to 'fight to the end' against new U.S. tariffs, escalating the trade dispute. (02:38)Episode transcripts seekingalpha.com/wsb.Show links: Biggest stock movers Tuesday: Health insurers stocks, and moreVietnam will buy defense goods from U.S. to reduce trade gap, seeks 45-day tariff delayTrump says EU must buy $350B of US energy to get tariff relief, rejects ‘zero-for-zero’ proposalBlackRock’s Fink sees ‘buying opportunity’ during market selloffSign up for our daily newsletter here and for full access to analyst ratings, stock quant scores, dividend grades, subscribe to Seeking Alpha Premium at seekingalpha.com/subscriptions.
Chapter 1: What are the recent changes in Medicare Advantage payments?
Welcome to Seeking Alpha's Wall Street Breakfast, where we cover the top news for investors every morning. Good morning. Today is Tuesday, April 8th. I'm Julie Morgan. Medicare money moves the market. NVIDIA seals the deal. And China basically says it ain't over. Shares of leading health insurance companies rose in post-market trading Monday after the U.S.
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services announced it has substantially raised government payments to Medicare Advantage compared to an initial proposal. In January, the CMS issued its advance notice for the next calendar year, proposing to raise government payments to Medicare Advantage plans by an average of 4.33%. an increase of over $21 billion compared to 2025.
Per the agency's final rate decision on Monday, payments to Medicare Advantage companies will rise by 5.06% on average from 2025 to 2026. translating to an increase of 2.83 percentage points since the advance notice or an over $25 billion increase in MA payments. This move follows a recent decision where Medicare coverage for expensive obesity medications was declined.
Chapter 2: How did health insurers react to Medicare payment increases?
Leading health insurance companies rallied in reaction to the announcement. Humana is up about 10 percent, Elevents is up 6 percent, UnitedHealth, the largest insurer in the Medicare Advantage market, is up 5.6 percent pre-market, and Clover Health is up 3.7 percent. NVIDIA has closed its acquisition to buy artificial intelligence startup Lepton AI, according to the information.
Chapter 3: What is the significance of NVIDIA's acquisition of Lepton AI?
The deal to acquire Lepton AI, which resells NVIDIA's graphics processing units in a cloud service, was worth hundreds of millions of dollars, according to the news outlet. Lepton's co-founders will stay on at NVIDIA now that the deal is closed. Talk of an acquisition popped up late last month. NVIDIA declined to comment when contacted by Seeking Alpha.
Chapter 4: How do NVIDIA's competitors compare in the GPU rental market?
Lepton competes with companies like Together AI in the business of renting out NVIDIA GPUs. Founded two years ago, Lepton AI secured an $11 million seed round in May of 2023 from CRV and Fusion Fund. Meanwhile, Together AI, a key competitor in the server rental space, has raised over $500 million in venture capital, despite being only about a year older than Lepton.
Chapter 5: What are the latest developments in the US-China tariff dispute?
And finally, we're talking tariffs. President Trump's renewed tariff threats on Monday have prompted China to vow a fight to the end. China sharply criticized the US's escalating tariff threats as blackmail.
Beijing's Commerce Ministry stated it would resolutely take countermeasures to safeguard its interests and rights if the US proceeds with additional tariffs, calling Trump's actions a mistake on top of a mistake. The ministry further declared that China would never accept this and would fight to the end.
This strong condemnation comes after Trump threatened a new 50% tariff on Chinese goods effective Wednesday, on top of the current 54% unless Beijing retracted its retaliatory tariffs, which include a 34% levy on all U.S. imports starting Thursday, announced in response to a prior U.S. tariff hike. Now for a look at what's trending on Seeking Alpha at this early hour.
Vietnam will buy defense goods from the U.S. to reduce the trade gap and seeks a 45-day tariff delay. Trump says the EU must buy $350 billion of U.S. energy to get tariff relief and rejects zero-for-zero proposal. And BlackRock Sphinx sees a buying opportunity during this market sell-off.
On our Catalyst Watch for the Day, the two-day Stiefel Virtual Targeted Oncology Forum will include participation from Compugen, Zymworks, Innate Pharma, and Revolution Medicines. Ticker Symbol Team will hold its three-day Team 25 event in Anaheim, California. The CEO will be one of the keynote speakers. And the Paris Blockchain Week will begin.
Now let's take a look and see what the markets look like ahead of the opening bell. Dow S&P and Nasdaq futures are in the green. Crude oil is also in the green, up 0.2% at $60 a barrel. Bitcoin is flat at $79,000. Gold is up 0.8% at $3,005. In the world markets, the FTSE 100 is up 1.7% and the DAX is up 1.6%. Levi Strauss is on our list of the biggest movers of the day pre-market.
Levi is up 10% after the company delivered mixed Q1 results, surpassing profit expectations. On today's economic calendar, at 11 a.m. Treasury buyback announcement and at 1 p.m. a three-year note auction. That's it for today's Wall Street Breakfast. Thanks for listening. For a full offering of news, analysis, ratings, and data on stocks and ETFs, become a premium subscriber.
Learn more at seekingalpha.com slash subscriptions. I'm your host, Julie Morgan. Go out and make it a great day.
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