Axios

Amgen today said its experimental obesity drug, MariTide, helped patients lose up to 20% of their weight in a year, with no plateau.

• The stock dropped nearly 5%.

The big picture: Expectations around MariTide were sky high.

• The drug is taken by injection once a month, compared to once a week for the popular GLP-1 drugs on the market.

The bottom line: Analysts had set the bar at a 25% weight-loss figure from the yearlong mid-stage trial in order for MariTide to compete with Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk's coming second-generation drugs, per Bloomberg.

President-elect Trump's inauguration is nearly two months away, but he's getting an early start in bringing a more uncertain time to global economic relations.

Why it matters: Trump's announcement on social media Monday night that he will slap a 25% tariff on all Canadian and Mexican imports on the first day of his term was both a warning about the direction trade policy will take and a reminder of the perils of taking his words too literally.

A handful of U.S. airlines pulled in $12.4 billion from seat fees over the last six years, a Senate subcommittee said today.

Why it matters: A Senate investigations panel is taking a hard look at these fees, which are increasingly crucial for airlines' bottom lines.

Starbucks is the latest retailer to have its operations ensnarled as part of an ongoing ransomware attack targeting a massive software provider, the company confirmed Tuesday.

Why it matters: The coffee retailer has had to manually track the hours that employees work this week to ensure they're paid properly.

As retailers prepare to kick off the busiest shopping season of the year, they'll also have to keep an eye out for a wave of AI-enabled bots flooding their websites, making fraudulent purchases and trying to steal consumer information.

Why it matters: Detecting bot attacks in the moment is difficult because their activity often looks exactly like a typical consumer's.

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said on Tuesday that she would impose tariffs in retaliation to those proposed by President-elect Trump in a newly outlined plan for the start of his administration.

Why it matters: Leaders from Mexico, China and Canada have all argued that the U.S. and their countries mutually benefit from cooperative trade agreements.

Whatever the future may hold, plenty is going right for the U.S. economy this holiday season.

Why it matters: The year has been bumpy — progress on inflation appeared to stall, once-reliable recession signals flashed red and worrying economic data triggered a global market sell-off. But with just over a month left in 2024, favorable trends for workers and consumers remain intact. Here are a few:

British antitrust regulators are preparing to loosen their grip on merger approvals, after years of post-Brexit tightening.

Why it matters: This would mirror what's expected in both the United States and European Union.

The plot is thickening around EV incentives federally and in California, the nation's largest auto market by a mile.

Why it matters: President-elect Trump's expected move against tax credits could slow sales of EVs — tech that Biden officials have made a priority.

President-elect Trump said he would impose additional tariffs on China, Mexico and Canada after taking office, tying them to the flow of migrants and drugs into the United States.

Why it matters: Trump's tariff threats have already ignited fears of inflation and a trade war. Now he's committing to implementing tariffs right away.

Walmart is on a roll, reeling in shoppers who previously spurned the retailer, pounding rival Target and mounting a serious challenge to Amazon's digital turf.

Why it matters: Already the world's biggest company by revenue, Walmart is nonetheless growing and transcending its previously down-market reputation.