Pics du jour

🏥 The Biden admin is moving to cover obesity drugs under Medicare and Medicaid. Currently, Medicare only pays for anti-obesity drugs such as Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy and Eli Lilly’s Zepbound if an enrollee has diabetes or heart disease, while Medicaid’s coverage varies by state. The White House’s new proposal gets around previous Medicare restrictions by reclassifying obesity as a disease – extending coverage to an additional ~7.5 million Americans, per officials. At the same time, the drugs would add as much as $35 billion in additional expenses to the programs over the next decade, based on list prices of $1,000+/month. However, the incoming Trump admin will need to approve the change – which is a toss-up, per analysts.

🚫💥 Israel and Hezbollah have officially agreed to a ceasefire. The US-brokered deal, which kicks in early this morning, establishes a two-month halt in fighting between Israel and Hezbollah (which began last October). During this period, Hezbollah is required to end its armed presence in a large stretch of southern Lebanon, while Israeli troops must fully withdraw from Lebanon and allow Lebanese and UN security forces to deploy in the area. Analysts say the process of implementing the deal remains a major question mark, with Israel demanding the right to resume military operations if it thinks Hezbollah has violated any terms.

📊 Wall Street reacts to the Trump tariffs. Shares of automakers fell yesterday following the President-elect’s recently announced plan to impose tariffs on products coming from Canada, Mexico, and China on Day 1 of his presidency. Many automakers have major manufacturing presences in Mexico and Canada. GM (-9%) and Stellantis (-6%) went down the most, though Ford (-3%), Honda (-3%), and Toyota (-2%) also fell. Elsewhere: Constellation Brands, maker of Corona and Modelo, saw its shares drop 3%. The brewer manufactures all of its beers, which represent 86% of its sales, in Mexico.