|
Trade Wars
Novo Nordisk Partners With OpenAI In Weight Loss Drug Race
Novo Nordisk, the maker of popular weight-loss drugs Ozempic and Wegovy, is partnering with OpenAI to deploy the technology across its operations as it looks to keep pace with rapid expansion in the obesity drug market. The Danish company announced in a statement on Tuesday that it would use AI to analyze complex datasets, identify promising drug candidates and reduce the time between research and patient application. President and CEO Mike Doustdar said the partnership would help discover new treatments for obesity and diabetes and “bringing them to market faster than ever before.”
The technology will also allow the company to streamline manufacturing, supply chain and distribution and corporate operations, with AI expected to be fully integrated by the end of the year, according to the announcement. Pharmaceutical companies are increasingly turning to artificial intelligence to speed up and simplify clinical development, with experts noting its use across a wide range of applications, including the discovery phase, formulation and dosage testing.
Read more at The Hill
Big Bank Earnings
Goldman Sachs on Monday posted first-quarter results that topped expectations on record equities trading results and higher-than-expected investment banking revenue. The bank said profit climbed 19% from the year-earlier quarter to $5.63 billion, or $17.55 per share. Revenue climbed 14% to $17.23 billion. Equities revenue rose 27% to $5.33 billion on rising financing activity to hedge fund clients in its prime brokerage business, as well as matching more buyers and sellers in cash equities products. Investment banking fees climbed 48% to $2.84 billion on a surge in advisory revenues from completed mergers transactions. The firm also cited higher revenue in equity and debt underwriting. Goldman’s provision for credit losses rose nearly 10% from a year earlier to $315 million. - CNBC
JPMorgan Chase on Tuesday posted first-quarter results that topped expectations on stronger-than-expected fixed income and investment banking revenue. The company said net income rose 13% to $16.49 billion, or $5.94 a share. Revenue increased 10% to $50.54 billion. The bank’s fixed income trading revenue rose 21% to $7.08 billion, or about $370 million more than the StreetAccount estimate, on rising activity in commodities, credit, currencies and emerging markets. Investment banking fees jumped 28% to $2.88 billion, or about $260 million more than expected, on higher mergers advisory and stock underwriting fees. Another factor helping the bank top expectations in the quarter: It set aside less money for loan losses than analysts had anticipated. The firm’s provision for credit losses was $2.5 billion in a sign that JPMorgan’s borrowers remain healthy. – Yahoo Finance
Wells Fargo said its profit increased 7% from a year earlier at the start of 2026. Net income at the bank was $5.25 billion in the first quarter. That amounted to $1.60 a share, above analyst estimates of $1.58. Revenue was 6% higher at $21.45 billion. It was the third full quarter Wells was free from a yearslong regulatory punishment that restricted its growth. CEO Charlie Scharf said the economy and consumers and businesses remained resilient despite a volatile market. But “the impact of higher oil prices will likely take some time to materialize,” he said. - WSJ
Citigroup reported its best quarterly revenue in a decade and a 56% year-over-year jump in earnings per share. Earnings per share were $3.06 vs. $2.65 estimate and revenue was $24.63 billion vs. $23.55 billion estimate. The bank’s markets division was a big driver of its first-quarter beat, with its larger, fixed income division gaining 13% to $5.2 billion in revenue, topping the StreetAccount estimate of $4.68 billion. Equities jumped 39% to $2.1 billion, topping the estimate by about $500 million. Investment banking came in light compared with estimates, except for equity underwriting, which came in at $208 million and beat estimates of $186.3 million. The unit comprising services showed revenue that increased by 17% in the quarter to $6.1 billion and surpassed Wall Street expectations of $5.8 billion. CNBC
Boeing Opens New 737 MAX Production Line at Largest Factory in the World
Boeing is opening its fourth 737 MAX production line at its Everett, Washington, facility this summer, marking the first time the company will assemble a narrowbody aircraft outside its longtime Renton home. The North Line will expand single-aisle production capacity, allowing Boeing to better meet growing market demand. Boeing announced its plans for a fourth MAX production line in 2023, using space freed up at the Everett (PAE) factory after it ended 747 production and moved all 787 assembly to its North Charleston, South Carolina, facility.
Currently, all 737 MAX jets are produced at the company’s Renton facility, with three active production lines. The North Line will be capable of building all 737 MAX models, and will initially focus on producing the 737-8, 737-9, and 737-10. Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg confirmed that the 737 MAX 10, the largest and most complex variant of its narrowbody family, will be produced predominantly at the Everett factory. Ortberg noted that isolating the MAX 10 to the North Line will allow the three Renton lines to maintain faster and more efficient flow rates.
Read more at Aviation A2Z
How Kodak Is Trying To Turn Around Its Business After Teetering On Bankruptcy
Film company Eastman Kodak has seen its fair share of financial struggles, but CEO Jim Continenza is determined to make it a success story. The company said last year that its finances “raise substantial doubt about Kodak’s ability to continue as a going concern.” But Continenza, a self-proclaimed “turnaround specialist,” told CNBC he’s been paying off Kodak’s debt, investing in its core roots and engaging with younger consumers to revive the company. The stock is now up nearly 100% over the past year.
The photography technology company was in the process of shutting down its acetate factory, which makes one of the key ingredients used in film. Christopher Nolan, the director behind major movies like “Inception” and “Oppenheimer,” urged Continenza to stop the process. Fast forward roughly seven years, and multiple 2026 Oscar-winning movies, including “One Battle After Another” and “Sinners,” were shot on Kodak film. It’s part of a bigger trend as the category sees a resurgence fueled by both a nostalgia for film in Hollywood and by younger consumers.
Read more at CNBC
Amazon Is Buying Starlink Rival Globalstar in $11 Billion Deal
Amazon.com is buying satellite operator Globalstar GSAT 10.62%increase; green up pointing triangle in a deal the companies estimated at about $10.8 billion, snapping up the biggest rival to Elon Musk’s Starlink service. The satellite industry is rushing to find ways to provide connections to airplanes and on cellphones, anticipating a large market will coalesce in the coming years. Amazon plans to deploy its own direct-to-device satellite system beginning in 2028, pending regulatory approval. The service will be part of Amazon’s satellite-connectivity business called Leo.
Leo competes with Starlink, but remains far behind in getting satellites into orbit. It has a few hundred satellites in space and plans to deploy thousands more, while Starlink already has 9,000. Globalstar operates a network of satellites supporting Apple’s satellite connection feature on iPhones. Apple’s service allows users to send text messages, call emergency assistance and seek roadside help in areas where cellphone service isn’t available. Globalstar also has global spectrum rights that became more valuable as SpaceX and Apple began more aggressively using satellite links to connect phones. Amazon has agreed to a deal with Apple to power satellite services for its iPhone and Apple Watch and to work together on future satellite services using Leo’s growing network.
Read more at The WSJ
Texas A&M Breaks Ground On $226M Semiconductor R&D Facility
Texas A&M University broke ground on a $226 million semiconductor research and development facility in Bryan on April 9, according to Gov. Greg Abbott’s press release. The building, dubbed the Texas A&M Semiconductor Institute, will have about 80,000 square feet of space for research, training and collaboration, TAMU System Regent Jay Graham said at the groundbreaking ceremony. Construction is expected to be complete by the first quarter of 2028, according to the TIS website.
The site will also have a sealed and enclosed clean room in one location for full-scale production, and labs for advanced technology, R&D and workforce development. The labs will focus on process and tooling development, metrology, packaging, radio frequency, photonics, testing and evaluation. Additionally, the facility will include a skilled-trade lab as part of efforts to develop the state’s semiconductor workforce training. The clean room would also feature purity ratings of 100 and 1000 classes, and 300mm equipment.
Read more at Manufacturing Dive
OPEC Lowers Second-Quarter Global Oil Demand Forecast On Iran War
OPEC on Monday lowered its forecast for world oil demand in the second quarter by 500,000 barrels per day, the producer group's monthly oil report showed in its first public assessment of the Iran war's impact on the market. OPEC sees a smaller hit to oil demand from the war this year than some other forecasters, such as the U.S. government's Energy Information Administration. OPEC also made no change to its full-year outlook as it sees consumption rebounding in later months.
Global oil demand is projected to average 105.07 million bpd in the second quarter, OPEC's report said, down from the 105.57 million bpd forecast in last month's report. "The demand growth for the second quarter of 2026 is revised down for both the OECD and non-OECD, driven mainly by slight transitory weakness in oil demand growth, given ongoing developments in the Middle East," OPEC said, referring to countries inside or outside the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development grouping of industrialised nations.
Read more at Yahoo Finance
Amazon’s Car Sales Bet Is Getting Bigger With New Brands and More Cities
Now you can buy a brand-new Corvette on Amazon.com. The e-commerce giant has quietly expanded its car sales business over the past year and a half. What started as an experiment with Hyundai Motors has grown in recent months to include vehicles from Kia, Mazda, Subaru, Chevrolet and Jeep. The service, called Amazon Autos, is active in over 130 cities, including Los Angeles, Dallas and New York, the company said.
In expanding the program, Amazon is now tackling one of the biggest retail businesses in the U.S. and one of the last major purchases that is still difficult to make online: new cars. Around $1.3 trillion of cars were sold by dealerships in the U.S. last year, according to the National Automobile Dealers Association. The Amazon Autos program launched at the end of 2024. It allows customers to browse and purchase a car from nearby participating dealerships. The aim is to let customers complete much of the purchase and financing paperwork from home, cutting down on the amount of time spent in a physical store. Dealers pay a fee to have their cars listed on Amazon, but shoppers don’t incur additional costs if they pull the trigger.
Read More at The WSJ
Artemis II Was a Blockbuster. Landing on the Moon Will Be a Lot Harder.
This month’s Artemis II flight captivated people around the world as the agency pulled off the deepest human spaceflight ever recorded, and the first crewed mission to the moon since the 1970s. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration and its contractors must now get through a series of sprints that would culminate in astronauts landing on the lunar surface in 2028. President Trump outlined that expectation in an executive order he signed last year.
Some current and former NASA spaceflight officials are skeptical that a 2028 landing will be possible, given the technical and operational milestones the agency and companies involved need to overcome. Among the challenges: showing one or both of the moon landers SpaceX and Blue Origin have been developing can safely transport astronauts, and preparing new spacesuits made by Axiom Space. United Launch Alliance needs to develop upper stages for NASA’s Space Launch System rocket. Space missions often take years to come together, as teams of engineers stitch together complex machinery and software that must be able to deliver in harsh conditions. Creating systems that can keep astronauts safe adds to the pressure.
Read more at the WSJ
|
