By Francesca Fontana

The Score is a weekly review of the biggest stock moves and the news that drove them.

UnitedHealth

UnitedHealth suffered a stock meltdown this past week.

The Justice Department is investigating the healthcare conglomerate -- and parent of insurance giant UnitedHealthcare -- for possible criminal Medicare fraud, The Wall Street Journal reported late Wednesday.

The criminal probe adds to a list of government inquiries into UnitedHealth, including antitrust investigations and a civil investigation of its Medicare billing practices that The Wall Street Journal first reported in February.

UnitedHealth said it hadn't been notified by the Justice Department of the criminal investigation and stands by the integrity of its Medicare Advantage program. A DOJ spokesman declined to comment.

      Earlier in the week, UnitedHealth suspended its   2025 earnings financial outlook, and announced the sudden resignation of Chief Executive Andrew Witty. Witty stepped down for "personal reasons," replaced by Chairman and former CEO Stephen Hemsley. 

UnitedHealth shares sank 18% Tuesday, and on Thursday fell 11%.

Amazon.com

To the surprise of investors and businesses around the world, the U.S. and China made a deal on trade.

The two countries agreed to a 90-day trade deal that slashed tariffs between the two countries and sent stocks surging -- including the biggest U.S. tech stocks whose operations depend on China.

Online retail giant Amazon, for one, sells many Chinese-made products. Many of Amazon's third-party sellers source their products from the country, and independent merchants warned that prices could skyrocket if tariffs continued. Some had said their businesses would cease operations.

Amazon shares gained 8.1% Monday.

Boeing

Boeing shares gained some air on the surprise trade truce between the U.S. and China.

As part of the deal to temporarily roll back tariffs, China scrapped an earlier ban on Boeing's airplanes. Beijing told Chinese airlines that they can resume taking delivery on pre-existing jet orders.

The government last month told Chinese carriers they had to seek additional approval before taking delivery of Boeing aircraft they had already ordered, in effect halting deliveries to one of Boeing's biggest markets.

The U.S. jet maker also benefited from the recent trade deal struck between the U.S. and the U.K., with British Airways purchasing 32 Boeing aircraft.

Boeing shares gained 2.5% Tuesday.

Foot Locker

Dick's Sporting Goods is taking over Foot Locker.

In a deal announced Thursday morning, big-box retailer Dick's agreed to buy the sneaker company for roughly $2.4 billion.

Dick's said it expects to operate Foot Locker as a stand-alone business unit within its portfolio and maintain the Foot Locker brands.

Foot Locker's shares had slumped this year on Trump's tariff plans, which upended supply chains and costs for retailers and sneaker companies.

The deal follows the recent sneaker buyout of Skechers, which agreed to sell itself for $9.4 billion to private-equity firm 3G Capital.

Foot Locker shares soared 86% Thursday, while Dick's shares dropped 15%.

Walmart

Tariff-related price hikes are coming to Walmart.

While its quarterly sales were strong, the U.S. retail behemoth said that it plans to raise prices this month and early this summer. Tariffs have already driven up the prices of some of Walmart's goods -- such as bananas at 54 cents a pound, up from 50 cents, according to Chief Financial Officer John David Rainey.

Many companies have already announced price increases, and other retailers are likely to follow suit. Later this month, Target, Lowe's and Home Depot will report earnings and discuss their financial forecasts.

Walmart didn't share a profit forecast for the current quarter, in part because the company may absorb some tariff costs to keep prices lower than competitors, Rainey said.

Walmart shares dipped 0.5% Thursday.

Coinbase Global

The largest U.S. cryptocurrency exchange said it refused to pay a $20 million ransom demand from cybercriminals that stole sensitive customer data.

Coinbase said the criminals bribed the company's overseas customer support agents to steal the data, which includes names, addresses, phone numbers and email addresses.

In a regulatory filing, the company estimated that the incident could cost from $180 million to $400 million.

The breach is a setback for Coinbase -- which is slated to join the S&P 500 later this month -- and threatens its cultivated reputation for safety. The company has largely avoided the hacks and heists suffered by many exchanges overseas.

Coinbase shares fell 7.2% Thursday.

Our weekly markets news roundup is now part of the WSJ's What's News podcast. Host Francesca Fontana discusses the biggest stock moves of the week and the news that drove them. Check out What's News in Markets at wsj.com/podcasts or wherever you listen.

Write to Francesca Fontana at francesca.fontana@wsj.com.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

May 16, 2025 17:17 ET (21:17 GMT)

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