The Dow Jones led Wall Street’s major indexes higher, supported by strong results from UnitedHealth and unexpectedly robust retail sales, which pointed to a still-robust U.S. economy but did little to dampen speculation about interest rate cuts.
UnitedHealth Group shares rose 4.3 percent following a rise in second-quarter profits, helping the blue-chip Dow Jones index and the S&P 500 healthcare index reach historic highs.