The Globe and Mail reports in its Wednesday edition that the S&P 500 barely managed a record closing high on Tuesday, its fifth straight day of gains with investors optimistic ahead of megacap earnings reports. A Reuters dispatch to The Globe says that countering that were a mixed reception to the latest earnings reports and a massive sell-off in health insurer stocks. The Toronto Stock Exchange was nearly unchanged. UnitedHealth led losses in U.S. health care stocks and in the Dow with a 19.6-per-cent tumble after the Trump administration's modest proposed increase in Medicare insurer payment rates. The plan was another woe for the insurer's disappointing revenue forecast. Investors were more encouraged by GM's earnings, which saw its shares rally 8.7 per cent after it reported higher fourth-quarter core profit. And with some high-profile earnings reports due out this week, technology stocks extended Monday's gains, with heavyweights Microsoft, Amazon, Nvidia, Apple and Broadcom providing the market's biggest boosts. U.S. consumer confidence unexpectedly deteriorated in January, slumping to its lowest level since 2014, according to data Tuesday, but this did not have much of an impact on the market.