WSJ What’s News - What’s News in Markets: AI Deals, Trump on Pharma, Banks Split

Episode Date: October 18, 2025

How did the week’s AI dealmaking affect stocks? And why did President Trump’s comments on weight-loss drugs hurt pharma shares? Plus, how did the big six U.S. banks finish out the week after strong quarterly reports? 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

Boardrooms love buzzwords. AI, climate, resilience. But what do they actually mean for CFOs and execs trying to survive the next earnings call? That's where the pre-read comes in. Real experts and real talk. Subscribe to the pre-read, presented by Workieva. Hey listeners, it's Saturday, October 18th. I'm Francesca Fontana for the Wall Street Journal, and this is What's News and Markets.

Our look at the biggest stock moves of the week and the news that drove them. Let's get to it. It was an up-and-down week for the markets. On Monday, stocks were regaining ground, thanks to comments from the Trump administration that eased investors' fears of a revived trade war with China. And this optimism in the market was further stoked by strong quarterly reports from banks that kicked off earnings season. The big picture takeaway there? America's biggest banker said that the economy is solid, the U.S. consumer is healthy, and they haven't seen much change in recent months, and that sent investors cheering on Wednesday. Then Thursday came along, and the mood soured a bit on worries about the health of regional banks. So, how did

all shake out? Well, on a weekly basis, the Dow ended 1.6% higher, the S&P gained 1.7% and the NASDAQ rose 2.1%. up, let's go through some of the big AI news from this week. Let's talk about the chipmaker Broadcom, which got a boost from its new multi-billion dollar deal with OpenAI, the startup behind ChatGPT. The two are working together to develop and deploy custom AI chips and computing systems as part of this massive deal. And we've talked on this podcast recently about OpenAI's big announcements with Nvidia, advanced micro devices, and now, broadband. This one data point I found really highlights just how massive these deals are.

Apparently, the total scale of computing capacity that Open AIs agreed to buy is now 26 gigawatts. That's enough power to meet the summer electricity needs of New York City more than two times over. Broadcom shares jumped 9.9% on Monday and held on to most of those gains throughout the week. And here's another chat GPT headline from this week. Walmart will soon be selling its products right within the AI chatbot. The retail giant's partnership with OpenAI will let US-based users purchase nearly everything that they could get from the Walmart website, except for fresh food. And Walmart shares ended up gaining 5% on Tuesday and on a weekly basis rose 5.8%. Next up, let's look at some health-related stocks making moves this week.

Hems and Hers shares jumped 16% on Wednesday on the news that the telehealth company will now offer menopause and perimenopause care. Hems and hers said it expects the new specialty to help hers, its women's health unit, to surpass $1 billion in annual revenue next year. Now let's jump to Friday's session. Farm of stocks, Novo Nordisk, and Eli Lilly really needed a shot in the arm after comments from President Trump the day before sent their shares falling. While speaking in the Oval Office, Trump said that the out-of-pocket cost of OZempic could fall to $150. For reference, OZempic currently has a U.S. list price of nearly $1,000 a month. Now remember, Novo Nordisk makes OZempic as well as another weight loss drug, Wagovi, and Eli Lilly sells to similar drugs, Manjaro and Zepbound.

Now, these drugs costs are still apparently being negotiated, so this is just talk, so to speak. But the pricing concerns were enough to send U.S. traded shares of Novo Nordisk down 3.1% on Friday, losing 4.5 for the week. And for Eli Lilly, the stock fell 2% on Friday, and on the week, lost 3.7%. Last but not least, let's swing back to the week. to America's big banks. The six largest banks said they raked in almost $41 billion in profit in the past three months. That's a 19% increase from last year. So how did the big six finish the week after all of the markets ups and downs? Well, in the number one spot was Wells Fargo,

which gained 7.3%. Three more of the stocks managed to end the week in the green. Bank of America rose 5.4%, Morgan Stanley rose 4.5%, and Citigroup added 3.3%. And two of them ended with losses for the week. Goldman Sachs fell 1.8%, and J.P. Morgan lost 1.1%. And now you know what's news in markets this week. You can read about more stocks that moved on the week's news in The Score, my column in the Wall Street Journal's Exchange section. Today's show was produced by Zoe Colk, with Deputy Editor Chris Sinsley.

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