UnitedHealth stock has bedeviled the Dow this year, but the insurer’s sharp decline has dulled its impact on the index.
The Dow was down 134 points, or 0.3%, on a day when the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite were up 0.3% and on track for closing highs.
Normally we’d immediately look to UnitedHealth, which at one point was the largest stock in the Dow. But UnitedHealth wasn’t the biggest drag today—it was Honeywell International and International Business Machines doing the most damage.
Because the Dow weighs its members by stock price rather than market cap, larger stocks can exert relatively more influence on the index. UnitedHealth has traded as high as $630.73 in the past year—once a mammoth in the Dow. With today’s decline, it’s down to $285.50. That gives it similar influence to Honeywell and IBM, which are both down far more today on a percent basis.
UnitedHealth has certainly left its mark: The index has shaved off about 1,355.14 points off the Dow this year. In other words, the index would have certainly topped its Dec. 4 record at some point, if not for UnitedHealth.
