WSJ What’s News
What’s News in Markets: Lilly Surges, UnitedHealth Plummets, Netflix Aims for $1 Trillion
Sat, 19 Apr 2025
Why did news from a weight-loss drug pill trial boost Eli Lilly? And how are costs in the Medicare business affecting UnitedHealth? Plus, what ambitious goals has Netflix set for itself? Host Francesca Fontana discusses the biggest stock moves of the week and the news that drove them. Sign up for the WSJ's free Markets A.M. newsletter. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Chapter 1: What are the biggest stock moves of the week?
Hey, listeners. It's Saturday, April 19th. I'm Francesca Fontana for The Wall Street Journal, and this is What's News in Markets, our look at the biggest stock moves of the week and the news that drove them. Let's get to it. After some relative calm earlier in the week, the tariff angst came for the chip industry on Wednesday and ended up weighing down tech stocks.
Also turning stocks lower was a warning from Fed Chair Jerome Powell, who said there was a strong likelihood that the economy would take a hit from President Trump's trade war. The Dow was also dragged down Thursday by disappointing results from UnitedHealth, with the health care bellwether's share price having an outsized effect on the price weighted index. But more on that in a bit.
Chapter 2: What caused Eli Lilly's stock surge?
And Friday, as you likely noticed, the stock market was closed for Good Friday. On the week, the S&P 500 lost 1.5%, the Dow fell 2.7%, and the Nasdaq fell 2.6%. First up, let's talk about some big movers outside of all the tariff drama, like Eli Lilly, one of the drug makers vying for the weed in the race for a weight-loss pill.
A little context, pharmaceutical companies including Lilly and Novo Nordisk, which currently dominate the obesity market with injectable drugs like Zepbound and Wegovy, have been testing pills that could help people lose weight. The market for weight loss drugs has been on fire, and analysts say it could reach $100 billion by the end of the decade.
Chapter 3: How is UnitedHealth performing in the market?
Chapter 4: What are the implications of the Fed Chair's warning?
Also turning stocks lower was a warning from Fed Chair Jerome Powell, who said there was a strong likelihood that the economy would take a hit from President Trump's trade war. The Dow was also dragged down Thursday by disappointing results from UnitedHealth, with the health care bellwether's share price having an outsized effect on the price weighted index. But more on that in a bit.
And Friday, as you likely noticed, the stock market was closed for Good Friday. On the week, the S&P 500 lost 1.5%, the Dow fell 2.7%, and the Nasdaq fell 2.6%. First up, let's talk about some big movers outside of all the tariff drama, like Eli Lilly, one of the drug makers vying for the weed in the race for a weight-loss pill.
A little context, pharmaceutical companies including Lilly and Novo Nordisk, which currently dominate the obesity market with injectable drugs like Zepbound and Wegovy, have been testing pills that could help people lose weight. The market for weight loss drugs has been on fire, and analysts say it could reach $100 billion by the end of the decade.
On Thursday, Lilly said its daily pill met its goals in a trial, helping diabetics lower their blood sugar and lose weight. And these results are the first from several studies of the pill expected this year. And they were certainly celebrated by investors, because Lilly shares surged 14% on Thursday.
Now let's circle back to UnitedHealth, the healthcare conglomerate and parent of UnitedHealthcare, America's largest health insurer. UnitedHealth's stock took a nosedive on Thursday after the company slashed its annual outlook and posted quarterly earnings that fell short of Wall Street's expectations. This is a rare stumble for the company.
You know, it typically delivers a steady stream of increased earnings and better than projected financial performance. So what caused the unexpectedly disappointing results? Well, higher than expected medical costs in its Medicare business. This is an issue that has affected the entire industry over the past year, but until now, it's been not so significant a problem at UnitedHealth.
The stock ended up plummeting 22% on Thursday. Last but not least, some news from Netflix. The streaming giant has some pretty ambitious goals, The Wall Street Journal reported this week, including joining the elite club of companies with a market cap of $1 trillion or more, which includes tech giants like Apple and Nvidia. The company also aims to double its revenue to about $80 billion by 2030.
So where's Netflix at right now? Well, it's got a market cap of more than $400 billion, for starters, and the company has boosted its performance in recent years by raising prices, limiting password sharing, and starting an ad business. Another thing Netflix has going for it, it's been relatively unscathed by the market turmoil related to Trump's tariffs, at least so far.
Netflix shares gained 4.8% Tuesday and, on a weekly basis, rose about 6%. We also got the latest quarterly results from Netflix later in the week, after market close on Thursday, in which it reported a record quarterly profit. But, as we know, the market was closed on Friday, so the stock is definitely one to keep an eye on Monday. And now you know what's news in markets this week.
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