Stock market today: Live updates

Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly shares dipped before the bell on Wednesday after Roche shared promising early stage trial data for its latest obesity drug candidate.

Shares of both Novo and Eli Lilly slipped more than 3% in the premarket. The former is known for the Wegovy drug, while the latter produces Zepbound.

In the first phase, Roche’s experimental, once-daily pill had a average weight loss of 6.1% within four weeks for obese patients without Type 2 diabetes when adjusted for the placebo, the Swiss company said. The drug candidate came from its acquisition of Carmot Therapeutics, which was completed earlier this year.

— Alex Harring, Karen Gilchrist

Donald Trump will permit Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell to finish his term if elected in November, the Republican presidential candidate told Bloomberg Businessweek in an interview.

“I would let him serve it out, especially if I thought he was doing the right thing,” Trump told Bloomberg. Powell is serving a second four-year term as Fed chair, ending in early 2026.

Powell first became Fed chairman in 2018 and has been subject to criticism from then-President Trump over the years on interest rate policy.

As recently as February, Trump told Fox Business that he would not reappoint Powell to lead the Fed.

— Darla Mercado

Tuesday’s gains in small caps gave the Russell 2000 index the most overbought daily reading for any major U.S. index, according to Bespoke Investment Group.

“History was made today. The Russell 2000 closed 4.4 standard deviations above its 50-day moving average. No other major US index (Dow since 1900, S&P 500 since 1928, and Nasdaq since 1971) has ever closed at that much of an extreme,” the firm said in a post on X.

The Russell added 3.5% during Tuesday’s trading session, notching its fifth straight day of gains as investors piled into small caps in the hopes that interest rate cuts will improve the borrowing environment for those stocks.

— Pia Singh