Trump ups heat on Powell and Fed, Nvidia hits new record high

To say Donald Trump likes picking fights is an understatement, and with his dust-up with Elon Musk seemingly in the past, Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell is Trump’s next target. The US president has been throwing critical bombs at Powell for weeks, demanding immediate rate cuts, while a couple of Powell’s colleagues had also called for lower rates.

Powell is sensibly using an even bat, this past week blocking these gripe googlies by calling for more time for the central bank to assess tariff-driven inflation before cutting rates.

A report from the Wall Street Journal said Trump has toyed with the idea of naming Powell’s replacement as early as September, although this was denied by the White House.

Elsewhere, the truce between Israel and Iran, brokered by Trump, appears to be holding for now. Trump has said he would likely push Iran to abandon its nuclear ambitions in upcoming talks next week. But it gave markets hope that escalating strife in the Middle East can be avoided and calmer solutions found, pushing US markets to record highs over the past week, or close to them.

As for stocks, Nvidia stock set new all-time high close of $155.09 on 26 June, valuing the chip designer at $3.78 trillion, having risen about 40% since a Trump-led rout in early April when the president unveiled reciprocal tariffs.

Micron Technology, another chip firm, also gave the sector a boost after guidance and second-quarter results topped analysts’ estimates. US banks, including JPMorgan Chase and Goldman Sachs were also big gainers.

Hims & Hers Health

Telehealth provider Hims & Hers Health saw its shares slump by around a third on 23 June after Danish drug maker Novo Nordisk said it would no longer sell its obesity treatment Wegovy on the US group’s platform.

The news came less than two months after the two companies announced a long-term partnership, bringing an end to one of the shortest-lived collaborations in the pharmaceutical industry.

In a statement the Danish company said, ‘Hims has failed to adhere to the law which prohibits mass sales of compounded drugs under the false guise of personalisation and are disseminating deceptive marketing that put patient safety at risk.’

Compounded drugs are unbranded custom-made copycat versions containing the same active ingredient.

In return Hims CEO Andrew Dudum took to social media saying: ‘In recent weeks, Novo Nordisk’s commercial team increasingly pressured us to control clinical standards and steer patients to Wegovy.

‘We refuse to be strong-armed by any pharmaceutical company’s anticompetitive demands,’ added Dudum. Despite the sell-off, Hims shares are up 92% over the last year and remain 71% higher year to date.

Nike

Nike shares rallied 10.7% to $69.25 in after-market trading after the sportswear behemoth delivered (26 June) better-than-expected fourth quarter sales and earnings, suggesting the trainers-to-basketballs business is over the worst and turnaround initiatives are gaining traction.

Admittedly Wall Street expectations were low coming into the print, yet Nike still delivered forecast-beating revenue of $11.1 billion for the quarter ended 31 May 2025. That was down 12% year-on-year but ahead of the $10.7 billion consensus estimate, while earnings of 14 cents per share topped the 13 cents analysts were looking for.

The size of the turnaround task facing Nike was demonstrated by the fact sales declined in all regions during the quarter. North America revenue of $4.7 billion proved better-than-feared, but China remained a trouble spot with sales of $1.48 billion shy of the $1.50 billion analysts expected.

‘While our financial results are in-line with our expectations, they are not where we want them to be,’ conceded CEO Elliott Hill. ‘Moving forward, we expect our business to improve as a result of the progress we’re making through our Win Now actions.’ Beaverton-based Nike expects sales and profit declines to moderate moving forward, although the threat of tariffs isn’t helping the situation.

Carnival

Consumers continue to ‘carry on cruising’, judging by Carnival’s strong second quarter results showing record profitability and demand. Analysts at Jefferies talked about the ‘resilience’ of the cruise industry fuelled by ‘strong onboard spending’ and ‘continued positive booking trends’ post-pandemic.

Shares in the US and UK-listed business have been on a steady run higher since sinking to year lows of $16.50 in April, and the US stock rallied close on 10% over the past week thanks to those bullish results (24 June). Adjusted revenue came in at $6.3 billion compared with an expected $6.2 billion from analysts, while the cruise operator also raised full-year guidance and is now expecting adjusted net income to be 40% higher than 2024 and $200 million more than forecast back in March.