Need to Know: These insurance stocks look like winners as Trump whacks at Obamacare

It’s Friday the 13th, and the bears surely are ready to see our relentless bull market finally run into a bit of bad luck.

The edifice of Obamacare certainly looks haunted, with the Trump administration poised to cut off key payments to health insurers that are worth billions. That would follow yesterday’s executive order that gives a shot in the arm to low-cost plans that are not subject to the Affordable Care Act’s rules.

“Trump is going to kill Obamacare, and there is nothing you can do about it,” writes iBankCoin blogger The Fly in his not-at-all-understated take on the turn of events.

The former Wall Street broker says he’s neutral on ACA and “would prefer that the insurance and drug rackets be punished to hell via rigorous restrictions,” but he then reveals his cold-blooded trader streak. The main thing now is how to play the 45th president’s push to undo what No. 44 wrought, The Fly says, delivering our call of the day.

“What is relevant,” he writes, “is the way we might profit from it. Might I interest you in a little HIIQ?”

He’s not alone in sounding bullish about Health Insurance Innovations Inc.

HIIQ, +4.02%

 , which sells short-term policies. The executive order urges regulators to stop capping the duration of short-term plans at three months, and that’s good news for companies selling such products, insurance-industry consultant Raj Bal tells The Wall Street Journal

“Clearly, for the short-term players it’s a winner,” Bal says. A longer duration “makes a huge difference in terms of the appeal of the product.”

In addition to Health Insurance Innovations — whose CEO basically said the cap attack was just what the doctor ordered — UnitedHealth Group

UNH, -1.20%

 could see upside, as it sells short-term policies, the Journal report notes.

Possible losers include Centene

CNC, -2.47%

 , Molina Healthcare

MOH, -0.25%

 and other insurers that could lose healthy ACA enrollees to new plans that are cheaper but less comprehensive.

See: How to invest in health-care stocks regardless of what happens in Washington

Key market gauges

There’s no black cat across the stock market’s path at the moment. Futures for the Dow

YMZ7, +0.09%

 , S&P 500

ESZ7, +0.07%

 and Nasdaq-100

NQZ7, +0.07%

are slightly higher, keeping the Dow

DJIA, -0.14%

 , S&P

SPX, -0.17%

and Nasdaq Composite

COMP, -0.18%

  on track for a small weekly gain.

Europe

SXXP, +0.32%

is largely gaining, and Asia closed mostly higher. Oil 

CLX7, +1.98%

 is up, while gold

GCZ7, -0.10%

 and the dollar index

DXY, +0.01%

 are roughly flat.

See the Market Snapshot column for the latest action.

The chart

What did you do in the past 24 hours?

Bitcoin just managed to rise by $1,000 in 24 hours, as shown in the chart above.

The CoinDesk graphic displays the digital currency’s move from the $4,850 level at 3 a.m. UTC Thursday to $5,856 at 3 a.m. UTC today. UTC is four hours ahead of Eastern Time.

Bitcoin

BTCUSD, +5.94%

was recently changing hands around the $5,600 mark.

Read: 5 reasons bitcoin has roared to its highest level ever

And see: Why Jesse Livermore would buy bitcoin today

The buzz

Ugly…

Ulta Beauty

ULTA, -8.53%

 will try to rebound today following yesterday’s 8.5% dive to $190 in the wake of a Cleveland Research downgrade. The retailer’s stock was kissing the $315 level just four months ago and had been widely regarded as immune to Amazon’s threat, Barron’s notes.

Speaking of Amazon, the tech giant’s

AMZN, +0.60%

 studio arm has suspended its top entertainment exec over sexual harassment complaints, in a Harvey Weinstein-related development.

In other tech news, Uber has launched its appeal against London’s move to de-license the ride-hailing service, and one of Samsung’s CEOs plans to step down, citing an “unprecedented crisis.” Did the Korean conglomerate really need three CEOs?

The problem with “synchronized global growth” — the latest rallying cry among bulls — is “the inevitable contraction” could be magnified, warns Market Anthropology’s Erik Swarts.

Bank of America

BAC, -1.47%

 and Wells Fargo

WFC, -0.81%

 are on the earnings docket before the open, following J.P. Morgan

JPM, -0.88%

 and Citi’s

C, -3.43%

 results yesterday.

In Washington news, President Trump is expected to announce today that he won’t certify that Iran is complying with a 2015 nuclear agreement. Also, the FAA has ordered emergency inspections of Airbus

EADSY, +0.25%

  A380 engines after an engine violently broke apart last month as an Air France

AF, -1.50%

  A380 cruised from LA to Paris.

The economy

Readings on inflation and retail sales are slated to hit before the open. Releases on consumer sentiment and business inventories are on tap once trading is underway.

We’re also due to get speeches from the Chicago Fed’s Charles Evans and the Dallas Fed’s Rob Kaplan, while Federal Reserve chief Janet Yellen appears at a banking seminar on Sunday.

Check out: MarketWatch’s Economic Calendar

The quote

“With any sort of disaster … the elderly may not have transportation, they may not have access to evacuate as fast as possible.” —Scott Alonso, a spokesman for California’s hard-hit Sonoma County.

Alonso is quoted in an LA Times story that says the average age for those killed by the Northern California wildfires is 79, according to the latest data from authorities.

Random reads

Brave flyers take the last Flight 666 to HEL this Friday the 13th.

House flipping is hot again, and Goldman is getting into it.

Today’s NYT crossword puzzle features a real stumper: “Big news site for investors.”

You can be a citizen of the Pacific island nation of Vanuatu for 43 bitcoin.

Dubai’s airport will use face-scanning virtual aquariums as security checkpoints.

A U.K. magazine says China’s leader > The Donald:

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