Akero Therapeutics Stock Soars on Acquisition by Novo Nordisk
11 minutes ago
Shares of Akero Therapeutics (AKRO) jumped nearly 20% in premarket trading after Danish pharmaceutical giant Novo Nordisk (NVO) announced it was buying the firm for up to $5.2 billion.
Novo Nordisk, the maker of blockbuster weight-loss drugs Ozempic and Wegovy, said it was buying Akero for $54 per share, or $4.7 billion, in cash, with a contingent value right of $6 per share, or $500 million.
Akero is developing a treatment for metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH) called efruxifermin that Novo Nordisk calls “potentially best-in-class.”
“If approved, we believe it could become a cornerstone therapy, alone or together with Wegovy (semaglutide), to tackle one of the fastest-growing metabolic diseases of our time,” Novo Nordisk CEO Mike Doustdar said.
Entering Thursday’s session, Akero shares had added two-thirds of their value in 2025, while U.S.-listed shares of Novo Nordisk had dropped 30%.
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Fed Officials Are Willing To Cut Rates, But Inflation Could Derail Plans
40 minutes ago
Officials at the Federal Reserve cut the central bank’s influential interest rate by a quarter of a percentage point last month despite inflation remaining near the top of their list of worries, according to minutes released by the Federal Open Market Committee Wednesday.
The minutes detailed the discussions that led the Fed to cut interest rates for the first time this year. Central bankers face a dilemma as they strive to fulfill their dual mandate of maintaining low inflation and high employment. Inflation remains above the Fed’s target of a 2% annual rate, while job growth has slowed to a crawl.
Federal Reserve officials seem willing to cut rates at their next meeting, if current economic conditions persist, minutes showed Wednesday.
Sophie Park / Bloomberg via Getty Images
Fed policymakers have been wrestling with their options: cut the federal funds rate to boost job creation, or keep it higher for longer to wrestle down inflation. The Fed’s key interest rate influences the economy because it dictates borrowing costs on all kinds of short-term loans.
While markets widely expect the Fed to make two more cuts at its remaining meetings this year, Fed officials are keeping a close eye on inflation, suggesting higher-than-expected price increases in the coming months could derail those expectations.
“Two more rate cuts aren’t a done deal because policymakers aren’t letting go of their inflation mandate,” David Russell, global head of market strategy at TradeStation, wrote in a commentary.
Read the full article here.
–Diccon Hyatt
Stock Futures Little Changed After S&P 500, Nasdaq End at Records
1 hr 1 min ago
Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose less than 0.1%.
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S&P 500 futures were near flat.
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Nasdaq 100 futures also were little changed.
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