The Rundown - Why Venezuela Didn’t Break the Oil Market, Novo Launches Wegovy Pill

Episode Date: January 5, 2026

Market update for Monday January 5, 2026Follow us on Instagram (@TheRundownDaily) for bonus content and instant reactions.In today’s episode:U.S. oil stocks rally as investors bet on long-term upside in VenezuelaNovo Nordisk launches the first-ever GLP-1 weight-loss pill in the U.S.Mobileye jumps after landing a major U.S. automaker for self-driving techComcast slides as its cable spinoff Versant officially begins tradingCES kicks off in Vegas as tech giants test consumer demand for AI hardware

Public.com presents the rundown. Your daily market update in under 10 minutes. My name is Zad Admani, and today is Monday, January 5th. In today's episode, we'll explain the impacts the events in Venezuela are having on the markets. We'll also tell you about the GLP1 weight loss pill that just went on sale today. Then stick around to the end of the show to find out why investors are paying close attention to this year's CES in Vegas. We got a great show for you today. Let's go.

The first trading day of 2026 was a mixed one. On Friday, the S&P 500 went up 0.2% while the NASDAQ was basically flat, technically dropping by 0.03%. And today is technically the final day of the Santa Claus rally window. So far, Santa has not delivered this year. The S&P 500 is down about 1% during the stretch. And if we don't get a big rally today, this will be the third year in a row that the S&P has dropped during the Santa Claus rally period. But given how the markets performed in 2024 and 2025, going up double digits, a slow start of the year isn't anything to be concerned about. Now, we did get some big news over the weekend that sparked some concern and could have an impact on the markets.

The U.S. military conducted an operation in Venezuela and captured its leader Nicholas Maduro. It was pretty wild stuff to wake up to on Saturday morning. Now, this news obviously increases geopolitical risk, but for now, it's not having a major impact on the markets just yet. We are seeing the classic safe haven assets like gold and silver prices rally this morning. But stocks are also in the green and pre-market trading, and oil prices are flat. Now, we'll talk more about the impact on the oil markets and energy companies in a bit. Zooming out, though, we have some important economic data coming out this week. On Friday, the Bureau of Labor Statistics will release the December jobs report.

This report will shed more light on the health of the labor market and could impact. pack what the Federal Reserve decides to do with interest rates at their next meeting. And believe it or not, earnings season is also right around the corner. Major banks will start reporting earnings next week. So between the geopolitical tension, the job data and earnings season knocking at the door, 2026 is wasting absolutely no time making some noise. As always, we're going to be staying on top of everything happening in the markets and breaking it down for you every morning.

So make sure you guys or subscribe for the podcast to stay in the loop. Let's run through some headlines. Starting with the big geopolitical story, everyone is talking about Venezuela. Over the weekend, U.S. forces captured Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro in the capital of Venezuela on the orders of President Trump. And historically, an event like that would have sent oil prices absolutely ripping higher. But this time, oil prices have barely moved, jumping less than 1% and still hovering around the $60 a barrel range. And the reason for that is pretty simple. There is an oversupply of oil right now.

Oil production in the U.S. is near record highs. OPEC plus countries haven't cut back on production, and demand has been soft. And that's why oil prices right now are sitting at their lowest level in nearly five years. You add to the fact that Venezuela doesn't produce as much oil as they used to, despite having the largest oil reserves in the world. Right now, Venezuela produces less than 1% of the global oil supply. So even if Venezuelan output takes a hit from this geopolitical uncertainty, analysts say this can be easily offset by production elsewhere.

But here's where things get a little interesting. Stocks of U.S. oil companies are surging this morning. Shares of Chevron, Exxon, Conical Phillips, and Oil Service giants like Halliburton and Baker Hughes are all moving higher this morning. And that's because President Trump said that American oil companies will be heavily involved in Venezuela's energy industry moving forward, spending billions of dollars to rebuild Venezuela's energy infrastructure and reviving their oil sector. Chevron is especially well positioned here.

It's the only major U.S. oil company currently operating. operating in Venezuela under a special sanctions waiver, producing roughly 20% of the country's output. So the biggest winner of these conflicts might be U.S. companies, but maybe not. See, before we get too carried away, you got to keep in mind that reviving Venezuela's oil industry will take years and cost upwards of $100 billion, and it also comes with massive political and legal risks. Plus, there's a ton of uncertainty on the political future of Venezuela. And what's kind of ironic here is that if Venezuela does get back to producing a lot more oil like they did back in the day, that would add even more oil supply to the market, which would

push down oil prices even more, which is great for consumers, but that's not great for oil companies. So we'll have to see what role U.S. oil companies play in the revival of Venezuela's oil industry. There's definitely a lot of uncertainty right now, but in the short term, markets aren't reacting the way that they have in the past. Let's shift gears and talk about GLP-1s. The first ever GLP1 pill for obesity from Nova Nordus is officially available for sale in the U.S. just two weeks after getting the green light from the FDA. This new WeGovie pill is now available at more than 70,000 pharmacies, including CVS and Costco,

and also through online providers like Roe and Weight Watchers. And I think this could be a game changer, not just because pills are more convenient than injections, but also the price point. The cash price for this pill will range from $149 to $299 per month, depending on the dose. That makes it one of the cheapest GLP1 options on the market. And it might be even cheaper for people.

people with insurance. On top of that, this also launches the next phase of the GLP1 wars between Nova Nordisk and Eli Lilly. Earlier in 2025, Eli Lilly overtook Nova Nordus as the market share leader for GLP-1s. As at the end of Q3, Eli-Lilly controls about 58% in the market, while Nova Nordus sits around 42%. That pushed up Eli-Lill's valuation to over $1 trillion, while Nova Nordus stock dropped more than 40% last year. But this weigovie pill gives Nova-Nortis a first-mover's advantage, since Eli Lilly is still waiting for their pill to get FDA approval. Now, there is one catch, though. Nova Nortis's pill requires patients to wait 30 minutes before eating or drinking after taking the pill.

Eli Lilly's pill, at least so far, doesn't have any restrictions. Either way, the takeaway here is that Novanortis is trying to win back market share from Eli Lilly, and they're hoping this pill gives them the edge. And zooming out, I think it's going to be a big year for the healthcare sector in general. If you want to learn more, go check out our weekend episode where I made predictions for 2026. One of my predictions was that the health care sector would be the best performing sector in 2026. I just think the hype around the GLP1 pills, along with the innovations coming from AI, are some reasons for that. If you want to hear my other predictions, along with predictions

from Mike and Connor, go check out the last episode. Mike had a spicy prediction and an epic rant that you guys need to hear. So go check that out if you missed it. Let's talk about some stocks making moves today. Shares of mobile eye are popping this morning after the company landed an unnamed major U.S. automaker as a new customer. According to Reuters, this top 10 American Carmaker will roll out Mobilize Next Generation IQ6H self-driving chip across a wide range of their vehicles. This deal pushes Mobilize expected future deliveries of their IQ6H-based driver assistance system to more than 19 million vehicles. Now, a quick refresher on MobileI, they are a self-driving chip company that spun out of Intel back in 2022. Now, these days, they're not just

focus on autonomous driving. They're also focused on features like hands-free highway driving, lane changes, and traffic jam assistance, which can be deployed today at scale. A lot of cars have these advanced features these days, and some of them are being powered by the Mobilized chip. As a result, Mobile Eye shares are up more than 6% this morning on this news. It's a nice bounce back for the company after losing half its value in 2025. Now, on the flip side, Comcast stock is down 6% this morning after officially completing its cable spinoff. As of this morning, Comcast, Comcast's traditional cable networks, including CNBC, MS Now, and the Gulf Channel, now live inside a separate publicly traded company called Versant Media.

Chairs of both Comcast and Versant are down today as trading gets underway. Not really surprising to see that investors aren't bullish on the future of traditional cable. Let's wrap the show with the fun fact. CES kicks off this week and it could be an important one for tech investors. CES is the Consumer Electronics Show, which happens in Vegas. every January, and as a tech nerd, I get hype for it every year. Now, historically, it's where companies show off giant TVs and wild concept cars and gadgets that may or may not ever hit the shelves.

But this year, CES will be all about AI hardware. According to earlier ports, we're going to see a ton of AI powered smart glasses and humanoid robots and, I don't know, maybe AI powered washing machines and dishwashers, too. But what investors will really be paying attention to are the big keynotes from companies like Nvidia, Intel, and AMD, which are all happening today. Now, all three stocks are already up this morning heading into the event. So we'll see if these companies actually show off anything new and interesting because there is a ton of hype building up for it.

If anything interesting is reported, we'll obviously talk about it on the show tomorrow. And hopefully next year, I'll be in Vegas to attend CES in person. It's something that I've always wanted to do. What's funny is my wedding anniversary is also this week. It always lines up with CES. And I can't think of a better way to celebrate a wedding anniversary than attending CES in Vegas. I just think to, you know, convince my wife that going to Vegas in January is better than going to Mexico or some tropical Caribbean island. You know, my wife reads the comments on Spotify and YouTube,

so you guys back me up here, all right? Well, all right, guys, that's the rundown for today. Hope you guys enjoyed today's episode if you did. And you have like five extra seconds. Consider giving us a five-star rating on Apple, Spotify, YouTube, 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 have. help us out, and it helps other people find the show. Thank you guys so much for listening, 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.

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