Dow Futures Rise as Berkshire Hathaway Buys into UnitedHealth

Stock index futures rose on Friday, with Dow futures leading the charge, as UnitedHealth received a boost after Berkshire Hathaway acquired a new stake in the company. Investors are also looking forward to the meeting between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin. Other stocks to watch include HIMS, META, NUE, and JOBY.

Stock index futures rose on Friday, with Dow futures leading the charge, as UnitedHealth Group (UNH) received a significant boost following Berkshire Hathaway's acquisition of a new stake in the company. The health insurer's shares surged after Warren Buffett's company revealed its investment, contributing to a 13.5% gain for UnitedHealth [3]. This move comes amidst mixed economic data and expectations of potential Fed rate cuts in September [3].

Investors also eagerly awaited the meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, scheduled for Friday evening at 1900 GMT. The summit is expected to address the ongoing Ukraine conflict and potentially impact crude oil prices [1, 3].

Other notable stocks to watch included HIMS & Hers Health (HIMS), which fell 5% following reports that the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is probing its cancellation practices [2]. Meanwhile, Meta Platforms (META) and Joby Aviation (JOBY) were also on the radar, although their specific movements were not detailed in the provided sources.

The broader healthcare sector (S5HLTH) gained 1.3% on Friday, marking its best weekly performance since October 2022. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) rose 0.20%, the S&P 500 (SPX) lost 0.28%, and the Nasdaq Composite (IXIC) declined 0.47% [3]. The mixed day for economic data indicated that while retail sales in July rose as expected, consumer confidence and factory production numbers suggested that tariffs were taking a toll on other sectors of the economy [3].

References:
[1] https://seekingalpha.com/news/4486087-4-stocks-to-watch-on-friday-hims-meta-nue-joby
[2] https://za.investing.com/news/stock-market-news/afterhours-movers-unitedhealth-applied-materials-intel-hims--hers-health-432SI-3841666
[3] https://www.tradingview.com/news/reuters.com,2025:newsml_L4N3U70XS:0-dow-briefly-hits-record-high-on-unitedhealth-boost-trump-putin-meet-in-focus/