← The Rundown
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Public.com presents the rundown, your daily market update in under 10 minutes. My name is Zaydad Mani and Today is Monday, September 22nd. In today's episode, we'll get you ready for this week. Crypto markets are off to a rough start and gold continues to rally. I'll tell you what I'm keeping an eye on. We'll also tell you about Trump's decision to impose a $100,000 fee on H1B visas and the impact that could have for the tech industry. Then stick around to the end of the show to find out why SN Snap has become a meme stock and why Siri being terrible hasn't stopped people from buying the new iPhone. We got a great show for you today. Let's go. The stock market continued to rally last week with major indices setting record highs. The S&P 500 was up 1.2% while the NASDAQ jumped 2.2%. The vibes seem to be good right now on Wall street as the Fed cuts interest rates and hinted at more rate cuts in the future. Now things are off to a bumpy start. This in the crypto markets. There is a wide sell off happening right now that started early this morning, wiping out more than $1.5 billion. Altcoins like Ether, Solana and XRP are the hardest hit, down around 6 to 7%. Bitcoin is holding up a bit better, down around 2%, but the price did dip under $113,000. Now this is a bit surprising because lower interest rates tend to be better for risky assets like crypto. But but that doesn't seem to be the case right now. Gold, on the other hand, continues to be unstoppable. Prices hit a record high this morning, jumping past $3,700 an ounce. The price of gold is up nearly 10% in the past month and up 40% for the year, which is better performing than Nvidia and Bitcoin. So it's safe to say that 2025 is shaping up to be the year of gold. And with concerns around inflation creeping back up and the economy potentially overheating, the gold could continue to rally. Now, speaking of inflation, we are going to get some more inflation data this week. On Friday morning, the PCE inflation report drops, which is the Fed's preferred inflation gauge. And we're also getting a couple notable earnings this week as well. The memory maker Micron is reporting earnings on Tuesday. It's been one of the hottest stocks of the year, up more than 85% so far. And then Costco is reporting on Thursday afternoon. So we got a pretty interesting week coming up. As always, make sure you guys are subscribed to the podcast to stay in the loop. Let's run through some headlines and let's start with the policy bombshell that had Silicon Valley and Wall street in a panic this weekend. Late on Friday, the White House dropped a surprise new rule that companies now have to pay a $100,000 one time fee for each new H1B visa. This rule kicked in at 12:01am on Sunday, giving employers less than 48 hours to figure things out, and the initial rollout was total chaos. Companies like Google, Amazon, Microsoft and Goldman Sachs rushed to send memos warning foreign workers not to leave the country or get back before the deadline. There was initial fears that the $100,000 fee would apply to H1B holders reentering the country. By Saturday morning, though the administration clarified that the fee only applied to new applicants and not renewals or existing visa holders. Still, it caused a massive amount of confusion and panic, and it's leaving visa holders and companies on edge. H1B visas are a huge deal for the tech and the finance industry. In fact, Amazon alone employs more than 10,000 H1B holders, while Microsoft, Meta, Apple and Google each have thousands on their staff as well. The program is also critical for industries like health care, universities and manufacturing. It's not just tech now. The politics around this are messy. President Trump says the steep fee will protect American workers and stop companies from spamming the system with cheap foreign labor. But others say it allows US Companies to remain competitive by attracting the best, most skilled workers across the world, while also addressing the skill shortage in the US in the STEM fields. Some people worry that this new policy could push companies to move more jobs overseas, so it'll be interesting to see how this all plays out and the impact that it could have on trade relations with India. Because about 70% of H1B visas are Indian citizens, things have been getting Rocky between the US and India. Trump recently imposed a 50% tariff on Indian exports, citing India's purchase of Russian oil. So things just got messier and this new rule will likely be challenged in court as well, so expect more uncertainty and chaos ahead. Let's shift gears and talk about Pfizer. Pfizer is trying to enter the weight loss drug space with a $7.3 billion acquisition of Metcera. Metzera is working on some next generation weight loss treatments, including a once monthly injectable that could be more convenient than the weekly shots from Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly. In early stage trials, this drug has helped patients lose more than 8% of their weight in just over a month. Now Pfizer is pretty desperate here. This acquisition comes after Pfizer's own attempt to crack the weight loss market fizzled out. They had to scrap one of their weight loss pill programs back in April after a patient developed liver issues. Meanwhile, pharma giants like Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk are gearing up to launch their weight loss pills early next year. Pfizer desperately needs this acquisition to work because they are looking for a new growth engine. Sales of their COVID vaccine and pill have collapsed from $38 billion at its peak to just $11 billion last year. On top of that, several of their blockbuster drugs are about to lose patent protection, which could wipe out another $15 billion in sales over the next decade. So Pfizer is taking a big swing with this Metcera acquisition, and the market seems to like it. Pfizer stock is up about 3% this morning, and shares of Metcera are up more than 60% in reaction to this news, let's talk about some stocks making moves today. Shares of stock Snap are up nearly 10% this morning after becoming the most talked about stock on Wall street bets in the past 12 hours. Traders on Reddit are hyping up Snap as a potential acquisition target. Now Snap has been working on AR glasses, which are all the rage right now after Meta showed off their glasses last week. Snap has spent over a decade developing their glasses, spending more than $3 billion into the project. Snap showed off some early prototypes and they are kind of ugly to be honest, but the tech is pretty cool and they're expected to launch in 2026. So maybe Snap gets acquired by a big tech player just for the glasses tech. We'll have to see how Snap's glasses compared to Meta's new smart glasses. I actually did a Deep Dive video on these glasses, so if you want to hear my thoughts on the new glasses and why Zuck is spending billions of dollars to make them, check out our Deep Dive episode from this past weekend. These new glasses are really great tech, but I don't think they're going to be replacing our phones anytime soon like Zuck is hoping. Now I'm still debating if I want to buy these glasses and they're $800, so kind of expensive. But as a Meta shareholder, I feel like it's my duty to review them. At least that's the excuse that I'm going to be telling my wife if I do end up buying these things. But let me know in the comments on what you guys think about these new glasses. Now going back to the market movers, let's talk about Kenvue, the maker of Tylenol. Their shares are down this morning on the news that the Trump administration is preparing to announce a connection between autism and Tylenol use during pregnancy. Per the Washington Post, Health Secretary RFK Jr. Is expected to release a report soon pushing that claim. Now Canvu is push pushing back hard. Already. The company told CNBC that more than a decade of research backed by medical professionals and regulators shows no proven link between Tylenol and autism. They even added a new section to their website spelling that out. But still, headlines like this can spook investors, and shares of Ken View are sliding this morning. Let's wrap the show with the fun fact Apple didn't create Siri, they actually bought it. Siri was just another app on the App store back in 2010, but Steve Jobs loved the voice assistant so much that he called the founders of Siri to buy it for $200 million and integrated directly into the iPhone, which they did with the iPhone 4S in 2011. Now, while Siri was great in 2011, it seems like Apple hasn't done any updates in the last 14 years. The founders of Siri left Apple in 2011 and it was also the same year that Steve Jobs passed away from cancer. So without Steve, Siri never got the attention that it deserved. Which is too bad. And it might also explain why Apple has been lacking when it comes to their AI tech. Now, Apple has said in the past multiple times they're working to make Siri better and smarter and integrating their AI technology. But I also want to point out that AI software doesn't seem to be that important right now when it comes to selling phones, because earlier reports are that the new iPhone 17 lineup has had better sales in the iPhone 16. In fact, Apple is already rushing to boost production of the base model iPhone 17 after strong pre orders. So maybe a smart voice assistant isn't really the deciding factor when it comes to people buying a phone. At least not yet. Well, all right guys, that's the rundown for today. Hope you guys enjoyed today's episode if you did. And you happen to miss our weekend episodes regarding Meta's smart glasses and our interview with Kyla Scanlon. Highly recommend checking that out. Especially the interview with Kyla. I mean, she's so plugged in when it comes to macroeconomics, and she does such a great job of breaking down what's happening. So definitely go check that out. And while you're at it, if you have like 10 extra seconds, consider giving us a 5 star rating on Apple Spotify, wherever you listen to your podcasts. 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 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.