The Rundown - Nike Ends Sales Growth Losing Streak, Pfizer Strikes Medicaid Deal with Trump

Episode Date: October 1, 2025

Stock market update for October 1, 2025. Follow us on Instagram ⁠⁠⁠⁠@therundowndaily⁠⁠⁠⁠This video is for informational purposes only and reflects the views of the host and guest, not Public Holdings or its subsidiaries. Mentions of assets are not recommendations. Investing involves risk, including loss. Past performance does not guarantee future results. For full disclosures, visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Public.com/disclosures⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

Public.com presents the rundown. Your daily market update in under 10 minutes. My name is Zadadmani, and today is Wednesday, October 1st. In today's episode, we'll tell you how investors are reacting to the government shutdown. We'll also recap earnings from Nike and tell you about the deal between Pfizer and President Trump. Then stick around to the end of the show to find out how much bad bunny is going to get paid to perform at the halftime of the Super Bowl. We got a great show for you today. Let's go.

Markets closed out the month of September on a high note. Yesterday, the S&P 500 was up 0.4%. And the NASDAQ added 0.3%. And I guess I have to mention the Dow, it was up 0.2% and ended the day at record highs. But, you know, nobody cares about the Dow. So overall, September was a solid month of the stock market. In fact, it was the best September since 2010. And the stock market has now gone.

up for five months in a row. So the market continues to be on a heater. Now, Q4 has officially kicked off and things are off to a bumpy start. The U.S. government officially shut down at midnight after lawmakers failed to pass a stopgap budget bill. Now, we've been talking about this all week. This was pretty much expected. And, you know, historically speaking, markets don't tend to freak out whenever a government shutdown happens. You know, a government shutdown sounds scary, but historically the economic impact has been minor, especially if the shutdown is short-lived. But then again, this is 2025 and things could be different. You know, lawmakers can't seem to agree on anything these days.

So this shutdown could drag out for two, three, maybe even four weeks. And the longer the shutdown lasts, the bigger the negative impact and the more uncertainty around the whole thing. And this cloud of uncertainty is already pushing more investors toward gold. The price of gold crossed $3,900 an ounce this morning, which is another record high. Gold is considered a safe haven asset and tends to go up in times of uncertainty, which I think is a fair description of what's happening right now. So we'll see what happens with this government shutdown.

You know, we're going to be talking about the shutdown and the ripple effects a lot over the next few days, maybe even weeks. So make sure you guys are subscribed to the podcast to stay in the loop. Let's run through some headlines. Starting with Nike. Nike is making a comeback. The company reported earnings last night and posted a surprise sales growth for the quarter, which was the first time that's happened in over a year.

Revenues grew by 1% to $11.7 billion. That was $700 million in what Wall Street was expecting. Now, digging into their earnings, the increase in sales was primarily due to strong performance from their wholesale business and their running shoes. Wholesale sales climbed 7% as Nike rebuilt relationships with retailers like Foot Locker and Amazon. That was a big change from their previous strategy, which was all about direct-to-consumer. I think Nike has fully admitted defeat on their direct-to-consumer strategy, now they're reversing course and going back to wholesale.

And as for their running shoes revenue, that was up 20% last quarter. You know, recently Nike has been getting smoked by competition from Hokas and on. But Nike finally seems to be finding their footing, no pun intended, after releasing some new designs. So yeah, Nike is making some solid progress again, but they still got a long way to go to complete the turnaround. Nike's profits last quarter were down 31%. Nike says they're still discounting and clearing out old inventory. They also said that tariffs are eating into margins, and the company expects sales to fall again this quarter. In fact, management doesn't expect consistent sales growth until at least 2026.

But investors are paying more attention to the positive news. Nike stock jumped about 5% following their earnings report. I think investors are happy to see that the strategy by the new CEO, Elliot Hill, is starting to pay off. Nike's comeback isn't complete just yet, but they finally have some momentum. If Nike was a basketball team, I think they're about to enter a. to the second quarter down like 15 points, but they just went on a 10-0 run. So still down, but they have some good stuff going for them. If you guys have a better sports analogy for Nike, let me know in the comments.

Let's shift gears and talk about Pfizer. Pfizer just struck a major deal with President Trump on drug prices. At the Oval Office yesterday, President Trump and Pfizer CEO announced that the drug maker will give Medicaid patients the most favored nation pricing, basically matching what other developed countries pay for their drugs. And for any new drugs launched in the U.S., Pfizer says they'll come in at that same discounted rate as well. On top of all that, Pfizer also pledged to invest $70 billion into U.S. research development and manufacturing. And in exchange for all of that, Pfizer will get a three-year exemption from the 100% tariffs that Trump threatened on brand-name

drugs last week. You know, medication affordability is a big issue here in the U.S. because Americans pay the most for prescription medication, often triple the amount compared to other countries. And that's why drug prices have been a target for Trump since he took office. He's specifically taken issue with the fact that the prices in the U.S. are so much higher than abroad. So this might end up closing some of that gap. Trump says he's currently working with other companies to secure similar deals, and he specifically named-dropped Eli Lilly. And the other big announcement yesterday was that the Trump administration is going to be launching a new government-run website called Trump R.S.,

which is expected to launch in 2026. Trump RX will sell drugs directly to consumers at a discounted rate between 50 to 85%. And Pfizer is expected to be a participant in that platform. Now, Wall Street analysts don't think that this deal will have much of an impact on Pfizer's bottom line. Since Medicaid participants already get a big discount on drugs, so the difference in prices that Medicaid patients pray versus international pricing probably isn't much. But this deal does give some clarity for investors that Pfizer, and potentially Eli Lilly won't be impacted by Trump's tariffs on pharmaceuticals.

And that's why shares of Pfizer jumped 7% yesterday and Eli Lilly was up 5%. I'm just hoping that all of this results in drug prices coming down here in the U.S. Let's talk about some stocks making moves today. Lithium Americas is ripping higher again this morning after the U.S. government officially announced that it's taking a direct stake in the company. This was rumored since last week, which also caused lithium America stock to jump. but the official announcement about the investment came yesterday from the U.S. Energy Secretary. The Department of Energy will take a 5% stake in Lithium Americas itself and another 5% stake

in the Thacker Pass project in Nevada. That mine is expected to open in late 2027 and it should be the largest lithium source in North America. This investment by the U.S. government is part of the Trump administration's push to secure control over the battery supply chain and investors are loving it. Lithium America stock is up more than 35% this morning. You know, this company stock was trading at like $3 last week, and now it's over $7. Now, let's talk about some losers.

Zillow stock continues to fall this morning after the FTC sued the real estate market platform for antitrust violations. Zillow, along with Redfin, are being accused of collaborating together to lower competition in the apartment rental space. Regulators say that Zillow paid Redfin $100 million to pose Zillow's multifamily rental listings on Redfin's website. And in return, Redfin agreed to stay out of that market for nine years. And the FTC basically says that that's a violation of antitrust law. You know, Zillow is paying a competitor like Redfin to stay out of a market. So that news sent shares of Zillow and Redfin's parent company, rocket companies lower yesterday.

And they continue to slide this morning. Let's wrap the show with a fun fact. Bad Bunny is officially headlining the next Super Bowl halftime show in February in Santa Clara. and he's not going to be paid much for his performance. The NFL only pays Super Bowl halftime performers the SAG after a union minimum, which is like $1,000. And this has been the NFL's policy forever.

They've paid the union minimum to every halftime performer going back to Michael Jackson in the 90s to Beyonce and Rihanna just a few years ago. See, for the artist, the real payoff isn't the money, but the exposure. Over 125 million people watch the Super Bowl every year. It's always the most watch TV, broadcast of the year. So that's a huge exposure for the artist. And that's why the artists are willing

to do the performance for a thousand bucks. Now, the NFL will cover most of the production cost needed for the performance, things like lights, stage, equipment, whatever the bad bunny team needs to put on a show. But I also wonder if there will ever be a point where the NFL will start charging an artist to do the halftime show. I mean, this is the NFL we're talking about. I wouldn't put it past them. Well, all right, guys, that's the rundown for today. Hope you guys enjoyed today's episode. If you did and you have like six extra seconds, consider giving us a five-star rating on Apple, Spotify, wherever you listen to your podcast. And if you are listening on Spotify, don't forget to vote in today's Spotify poll. Leave us a comment on Spotify. All that engagement

really does help us out and it helps other people find the show. Thank you again to everyone that left a comment on yesterday's show recommending merch ideas. We're still cooking up something in the lab here. So we'll have an announcement for you guys soon. Thank you guys again for watching and commenting, shout out to Mike and Connor. For all the work behind the scenes, and we'll see you guys back here tomorrow. Rosen lasagna, medium power, 15 minutes. Sounds like Ojo time.

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