Archive

August 9, 2025

Browsing
In Stocks

Gilead Sciences shares soar; analysts lift targets on HIV strength and Yeztugo outlook

3 Mins Read

Gilead Sciences’ stock surged more than 8% on Friday, as its latest earnings drew the consensus from Wall Street that the company’s HIV franchise is not only holding firm but expanding, with its new prevention drug Yeztugo poised to be a catalyst for future growth.

Analysts from leading firms upgraded their price targets and reiterated bullish calls after the biopharmaceutical company posted steady second-quarter results and raised its 2025 guidance.

The stock surged more than 8% on Friday, extending gains after Gilead reported adjusted earnings per share of $2.01, slightly ahead of the $1.97 expected by analysts, according to LSEG.

Revenue rose 2% year-over-year to $7.1 billion, matching market forecasts.

Street applauds clean beat and raise

BMO Capital Markets described the quarter as “a breath of fresh air with a clean beat and raise,” noting the HIV business was “firing on all cylinders.”

The firm maintained its ‘Outperform’ rating and $130 price target.

Morgan Stanley went further, lifting its target to $143 from $135 while keeping an Overweight rating, citing “strong performance in the HIV segment” and the promising trajectory of Yeztugo.

J.P. Morgan (‘Overweight’, PT: $135) highlighted the company’s “confident” commentary on the launch, suggesting encouraging early adoption trends.

Bernstein (‘Outperform’, PT: $120) called the US PrEP market “ripe” for Yeztugo’s success, while Oppenheimer (‘Outperform’, PT: $128) pointed to the timing of the launch coinciding with a favourable US Supreme Court ruling that requires health insurers to cover certain recommended preventive services at no cost.

Twice-yearly PrEP drug seen as competitive edge

Yeztugo, approved by US regulators in June, is the first long-acting injectable for HIV prevention administered just twice a year.

Analysts say it addresses longstanding barriers to daily oral PrEP, such as adherence issues, stigma, and limited healthcare access.

CEO Daniel O’Day told Reuters that the drug’s rollout began almost immediately after approval.

“The first scrip was written within hours … the first dose was delivered within days,” he said, adding Gilead is on track to achieve its stated goal of 75% US insurer coverage of the twice-yearly injection within six months and 90% coverage within a year.

Total HIV product sales rose 7% year-over-year to $5.1 billion in the quarter, a figure analysts believe underscores the segment’s resilience despite generic competition for older products like Truvada.

Guidance upgrade fuels optimism

Gilead now expects full-year adjusted earnings of $7.95 to $8.25 per share, up from $7.70 to $8.10, and raised its 2025 product sales outlook to between $28.3 billion and $28.7 billion.

Chief Financial Officer Andrew Dickinson credited “strong HIV sales and continued expense discipline” for the upgrade.

Analysts at Zacks said, “It has been an eventful year for GILD so far. The recent FDA approval of lenacapavir under the brand name Yeztugo solidifies GILD’s HIV portfolio as its other prevention drug, Truvada, faces generic competition.”

While competitive pressures remain — and Gilead’s cell therapy business continues to face headwinds — the consensus view is that the company’s strengthened HIV franchise and disciplined execution have positioned it to navigate industry challenges and capture meaningful growth in the years ahead.

The post Gilead Sciences shares soar; analysts lift targets on HIV strength and Yeztugo outlook appeared first on Invezz

Keep Reading
In World news

OPINION — Goldenomics 102: The Shadow Price of Gold

6 Mins Read

By Darren Brady Nelson

One of the underrated, and easily dismissed, stories from the first 100 days of the second Donald J. Trump presidency was in March 2025, when the president said: “We’re actually going to Fort Knox to see if the gold is there, because maybe somebody stole the gold. Tonnes of gold.”

Two developments have happened since. First was his May 2025 executive order “Restoring Gold Standard Science.” Second was his signing the July 2025 GENIUS Act. The former could be a word teaser for “Restoring The Gold Standard.” The latter seems to be a step in that direction.

Source: The White House.

Fort Knox gold

The US Department of the Treasury’s Weekly Release of US Foreign Exchange Reserves shows the levels of various official assets, including gold. It reported gold of 261.499 million fine troy ounces. An estimated 56 percent of that is in Fort Knox, with the remainder in West Point, Denver and New York.

The Federal Reserve Act 1913 still gives the power to the US Federal Reserve: “To deal in gold coin and bullion at home or abroad, to make loans thereon, exchange Federal reserve notes for gold, gold coin, or gold certificates, and to contract for loans of gold coin or bullion (and much more).”

The question of how much gold is in Fort Knox and elsewhere is not only important for the purposes of DOGE, but even more so in the case of a potential return to a gold standard. And such an incredible return is not mere speculation, but is due to some credible public comments.

Source: Visual Capitalist.

Trump gold standard

Private citizen Trump commented, as a presidential candidate, about a possible return to a gold standard in June 2016, when he said: “Bringing back the gold standard would be very hard to do, but, boy, would it be wonderful. We’d have a standard on which to base our money.”

More recently, Steve Bannon stated in December 2023: “Nixon took us off the gold standard … over a weekend … in an emergency executive order. That is going to be reviewed strongly in the second Trump term … getting rid of the Fed, yeah, maybe you start with converting back into gold.”

Economist Judy Shelton has an October 2024 book as a guide: “When the US dollar is backed by gold, America prospers, and so does the rest of the world. But this is no curmudgeonly demand to return to the gold standard of yore; (but) gold for a new international monetary order.”

Some sort of gold standard might dovetail with a new global trading system, as outlined in the “Mar-a-Largo Accord” of November 2024, as well as with the GENIUS Act of July 2025, which: “establishes a regulatory framework for payment stablecoins (must redeem for a fixed value).”

Shadow gold price I

Shadow pricing is a method long used in cost benefit analysis that adjusts prices from, or creates prices for, failed or non-existent markets. The shadow price of gold (SPoG) in August 2018 was defined as: “The linkage between the US monetary base and the implied price of gold.”

The In Gold We Trust (IGWT) annual report from May 2025 uses a similar definition: “The theoretical gold price in the event of full gold backing of the base money supply.” The report adds: “The reciprocal value of the (SPoG) gives the degree of coverage of the monetary base.”

The reciprocal SPoG, based on current market prices, is the “Gold Coverage Ratio” (GCR). The report explains further that: “Currently, the (GCR) in the US is only 14.5%. To put it crudely: Only 14.5 cents of every US dollar currently consists of gold, the remaining 85.5% is air.”

Gold backing of monetary base, in percent, 01/1920 to 03/2025.

Source: Incrementum.

Shadow gold price II

According to IGWT: “In the gold bull market of the 2000s, (GCR) tripled from 10.8% to 29.7%. A comparable (GCR) today would only arise if the gold price were to almost double to over $6,000. The record value of 131% from 1980 would correspond to a gold price of around $30,000.”

IGWT goes beyond just $USD: “The international shadow gold price (ISPoG) shows how high the gold price would have to rise if the money supply (M0 or M2) of the leading currency areas were covered by the central banks’ gold reserves in proportion to their share of global GDP.”

“This view impressively reveals the extent of the monetary expansion: With an — admittedly purely theoretical — 100% coverage of the broad money supply M2, the gold price (per ounce) would be over $231,000; even with a moderate 25% coverage, it would be around $58,000.”

International shadow gold price at different gold coverage levels (log), in USD, 12/2024.

Source: Incrementum.

Shadow gold price III

In May 2024, James Rickards predicted: “My latest forecast is that gold may actually exceed $27,000. I don’t say that to get attention or to shock people. It’s not a guess; it’s the result of rigorous analysis.”

This was based on a similar approach to SPoG and GCR that he called “the implied non-deflationary price of gold under a new gold standard (iPoG).” Rickards calculated a gold price, based on iPoG, of $27,533 per ounce.”

He divided US$7.2 trillion of M1 money supply by 261.5 million of gold troy ounces (or 8,133 metric tonnes) in official US reserves estimated by the World Gold Council. The M1 figure is 40 percent of US$17.9 trillion as: “this percentage was the legal requirement for the US Federal Reserve from 1913 to 1946.”

In summary, the sort of gold prices that might be reached under a return to a gold standard, using the shadow price of gold approach, range from lows of US$6,000 to highs of US$231,000, with US$27,533, US$30,000 and US$58,000 in between.

Whatever the gold price ends up at, it would be a once-in-a-lifetime windfall for those holding gold at that time. After that, gold would cease to be an investment, as it has been since 1971 and 1974. Because gold would be actual money once again, and it would be sound money at that.

About Darren Brady Nelson

Darren Brady Nelson is chief economist with Fisher Liberty Gold and policy advisor to The Heartland Institute. He previously was economic advisor to Australian Senator Malcolm Roberts. He authored the Ten Principles of Regulation and Reform, and the CPI-X approach to budget cuts.

Click here to read Goldenomics 101: Follow the Money.

This post appeared first on investingnews.com

Keep Reading
In Business

Trump demands resignation of Intel CEO over alleged China ties

3 Mins Read

President Donald Trump on Thursday demanded that the CEO of the tech firm Intel resign immediately, saying he is “highly conflicted” because of alleged ties to China.

“There is no other solution to this problem,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

Trump’s attack on the Intel chief is his latest attempt to pressure the semiconductor industry, which has fueled the boom in artificial intelligence. On Wednesday, he said he would hit imported computer chips with a 100% tariff unless companies are making them, or plan to make them, in the United States.

The demand also comes after Sen. Tom Cotton wrote to Intel Chairman Frank Yeary to “express concerns about the security and integrity of Intel’s operations and its potential impact on U.S. national security.”

Cotton, a Republican from Arkansas, claims in the letter that Intel’s recently named CEO, Lip-Bu Tan, “reportedly controls dozens of Chinese companies and has a stake in hundreds of Chinese advanced-manufacturing and chip firms. At least eight of these companies reportedly have ties to the Chinese People’s Liberation Army.”

Cotton asked Intel whether it had asked Tan to “divest from his positions in semiconductor firms linked to the Chinese Communist Party or the People’s Liberation Army and any other concerning entities in China that could pose a conflict of interest?”

Cotton also asked the company if it was aware of any subpoenas that Tan’s former firm received and if Tan has disclosed any other ties to China.

Intel has not responded to NBC News’ request for comment on Cotton’s letter and Trump’s social media post.

The senator’s letter cites a recent Reuters story that said Tan “has invested in hundreds of Chinese tech firms, including at least eight with links to the People’s Liberation Army, according to a Reuters review of Chinese and U.S. corporate filings.’

In March, Yeary announced that Tan had been named Intel CEO. Tan started working at the company on March 18. Tan was previously chief executive of Cadence Design Systems, an American chip design company based in California, from 2009 to 2021.

Intel’s rivals such as Taiwan Semiconductor, Samsung, GlobalFoundries and Nvidia have all announced plans to invest billions of dollars in their existing U.S. chipmaking infrastructure or deepen partnerships with U.S. companies like Apple to dodge those long-promised tariffs.

Further management turmoil for Intel likely spells more trouble and delays as it continues to try to play catch up with its competitors. The company’s stock market value, just shy of $90 billion, lags far behind most of its rivals. Its stock dropped more than 2% Thursday, erasing its gains for the year and underperforming the S&P 500’s 9% gain this year.

Intel’s last CEO, Patrick Gelsinger, was forced out at the end of 2024 after the company fell behind Nvidia, AMD and other chip firms in the AI race. That came as Gelsinger sought to transform the long-struggling company by attempting to build major chip factories in the U.S.

But Intel’s debt load and the lead time that other companies already had on Intel were too much for Gelsinger to overcome.

In November, Intel received a nearly $8 billion grant under the Biden administration’s “CHIPS Act” for factory build-outs and to make secure chips for the Defense Department.

But that grant was less than Intel was originally set to receive. It was reduced because U.S. officials worried about Intel’s ability to deliver what was promised, The New York Times reported.

This post appeared first on NBC NEWS

Keep Reading
In Politics

WATCH: GOP senators divided over whether Epstein documents are a distraction or a needed reckoning

4 Mins Read

Republican senators offered a range of responses when pressed on how the Trump administration has been handling the Epstein files controversy, with some calling it a distraction and others arguing the American people are ‘entitled’ to answers.

Attorney General Pam Bondi announced the ‘first phase’ of declassified files related to Jeffrey Epstein Feb. 27, noting the move was following through on President Donald Trump’s commitment to ‘lifting the veil’ on Epstein and his co-conspirator’s actions. Bondi also said the same month she was in possession of an Epstein ‘client list.’

However, the February declassification contained mostly information and files that had already been publicly available, and the Justice Department subsequently indicated that no ‘client list’ exists. Since then, a series of events, including a clash between FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino and Attorney General Bondi, have led to mounting pressure on the Trump administration to release more files. 

‘This is factual. Epstein trafficked a lot of young women, some of whom were minors. The American people are entitled to know who — if anyone — he trafficked these young women to, besides himself, and why they weren’t prosecuted,’ John Kennedy, R-La., said. 

‘Now that’s a very simple question that’s at the bottom of all of this. The Department of Justice is going to have to answer that question to the satisfaction of the American people.’

 

Kennedy’s call for transparency comes after the president described the Epstein situation as a ‘hoax’ while blasting Democrats and other ‘weaklings’ who continue to buy into it. 

‘Their new SCAM is what we will forever call the Jeffrey Epstein Hoax, and my PAST supporters have bought into this ‘bull—-,’ hook, line, and sinker,’ Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform last month amid mounting reports of internal division within the administration over its handling of the Epstein case 

When asked about how the Trump administration was handling the Epstein furor, Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., said he thought the situation was being used by Democrats to create a ‘distraction’ from the ongoing investigations into former President Biden and others, like the probe related to Biden’s use of an autopen tool to sign important documents and the investigation into whether Obama-era officials manufactured evidence to accuse Trump of Russian collusion.

‘Look what’s being investigated right now through the Biden administration. … So, what are they going to talk about now?’ Mullin asked. ‘This is nothing but a distraction from the actual facts that is coming out about the Biden administration. Of course, the Democrats say, ‘Well, we’re just about transparency.’ Well, where was the transparency the last four years?’

Democrats have suggested Trump could be implicated in the files, but Mullin said that if such a circumstance were true, the information would have been leaked by the Biden administration. 

Mullin’s counterpart in the Senate, Republican Oklahoma Sen. James Lankford took more of a middle ground in his response about how the administration has been handling the Epstein files.

‘The challenge is there are people that are victims that are in it, and there are folks that are not criminals that are in it as well,’ Lankford said. ‘And the challenge the Department of Justice has is you’ve got a girl that was 14, 16 years old and was abused. Well, now she’s, let’s say 26 or 30, married and has children. 

‘Maybe her family knows about this, maybe they don’t. I don’t know the situation, but we gotta figure out a way to be able to protect those folks that are genuine victims on all this as well as getting out as much information as you possibly can.’

For Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, the debate about the Epstein files was not something she was interested in talking about when approached by Fox News Digital.

‘I’m going,’ Collins responded when pressed on the matter outside the Capitol complex.

This post appeared first on FOX NEWS

Keep Reading