🚀 Novo Nordisk shares rise on positive drug trial results

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Market Overview
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Year To Date Performances:

1. Novo Nordisk got a much-needed boost after new trial data showed its blockbuster weight-loss drug Wegovy significantly outperformed Eli Lilly’s rival treatment in reducing the risk of heart attack, stroke, or death among certain patients. The findings, though based on a real-world study rather than a gold-standard trial, suggest heart-protective benefits unique to Wegovy’s semaglutide formula and sent shares up about 3% on Monday. Still, analysts warn that the results may not decisively shift the balance in Novo’s fierce competition with Lilly, especially as the Danish giant struggles with declining U.S. market share, political pressure over drug pricing, and a wave of copycat compounders. For a company whose rise and fall has mirrored the weight-loss drug frenzy itself, the data offers optimism but not yet a cure for its deeper U.S. troubles.

2. For the first time, college athletes are receiving direct payments from their schools this season under a landmark $2.8 billion settlement in House v. NCAA, but the system meant to bring order has instead opened a new era of uncertainty. Congress is weighing competing bills that could either restrict athletes’ rights — like the GOP-backed SCORE Act, which would block employee status and grant the NCAA antitrust protections — or expand them through unionization efforts championed by Democrats. At the same time, schools face caps on athlete pay, new oversight of lucrative NIL deals, and rising tensions between universities, lawmakers, and players themselves over how revenue should be shared. While athletes now enjoy unprecedented rights, the future of college sports hinges on whether lawmakers and the NCAA cement a framework that empowers players or reasserts control over a fast-changing landscape.

3. The Duane Arnold nuclear plant in Iowa, shuttered since 2020, is now poised for a comeback as soaring energy demand from AI data centers revives interest in nuclear power. Owner NextEra Energy won federal approval to reconnect the facility to the grid and is seeking a power purchase agreement with major tech firms, following the model of Microsoft’s deal to back the restart of Three Mile Island. If successful, Duane Arnold could return more than 600 megawatts of carbon-free electricity by 2028, enough to power 400,000 homes, though the project faces high upfront costs, long equipment lead times, and the risk of delays. Alongside Palisades and Three Mile Island, its revival signals nuclear energy’s unexpected second act, as utilities shift back from renewables toward high-capacity aseload power in response to relentless industrial and AI-driven demand.

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   2. Deportations by the US government are having significant impacts on numerous industries in California, which have historically relied on migrant workers.

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