Fast Money 9/22/25

0:02Live from the Nasdaq market site in the heart of New York City's Times Square this is Fast Money Here's what's on tap tonight. Canview Crumbles shares the Tylenol maker hitting their lowest points since being spun off from Johnson & Johnson. The latest claims from health regulators and what it'll mean for all drug makers. And NVIDIA's$100 billion AI investment. What the companies deal with OpenAI says about the state of tech spending. Who'll come out on top and who'll get left behind. Plus, Golden Apple shares clawback toward records. Pfizer makes moves to join in on the weight loss drug gains.

0:32And bye-bye BYD. Berkshire Hathaway has gotten out of that stock. Should you be doing the same? We'll get some answers. I'm Melissa Lee. Come to you live from Studio B at the Natzak. On the desk tonight, Tim Seymour, Karen Feinerman, Dan Nathan, and Guy Adami. We start off with President Trump speaking at the White House in just moments ago about potential causes of autism. The president making an announcement linking autism with pregnant women's use of acetaminophen, bound in over-the-counter drugs like Tylenol. Shares of Kenview, the company which makes Tylenol, had dropped 7.5 % in the regular session ahead of the event.

1:03It is up after hours, though. So for the very latest, let's get straight to Angelica Peebles. Angelica. Hey, Melissa. Well, that is just getting underway. But we heard President Trump talking about the rates in autism and how those numbers have grown so much over the years. And of course, that's something that everyone is very much concerned about. It's not 100 percent clear exactly why we're seeing that. You know, some of it has to do with just more diagnosis, more awareness of this disease. But to President Trump, he talks about the fact that in his mind, there is something externally that's causing this.

1:34And one of the sources that they talk about is acetaminophen, right? That's the main ingredient of Tylenol and the use of that drug during pregnancy. And so he says that the FDA is going to warn doctors about the use of that drug during pregnancy, saying that you should really limit it to only when you have high fevers. He recognizes that it's really the only pain drug that you can take when you are pregnant. But at the same time, he thinks that based on the research that we've seen, that that should be limited. Now, you know, there's obviously some controversy there. Not everyone agrees with those findings.

2:08It has been a very hotly debated area. It's been, from what I've talked to experts, they've been saying that they've been looking at this for about a decade. And you have conflicting research. You have some studies that show an association and some that don't. So definitely an area that people agree there needs to be more research. But drawing definitive conclusions at this point, still a little bit of a TBD. But that is an action that we are hearing from the administration. they're also moving to approve a drug to treat autism symptoms. It's a drug called Leucovorin. And that drug is really used to help people who are receiving cancer treatment, to help with some of those toxicities.

2:47And the thinking is that it might also be able to help treat autism. And it's a drug that's used off-label today. So doctors are not supposed to prescribe it, but they do anyway in some instances. And there have been some anecdotal stories about success and also some small studies that have suggested that it could work. But again, those are small. And now the FDA is moving to approve that. So much more to come. That is still ongoing. And we'll get back to you with any headlines, Melissa. Angelica, for Leucovorn, have there been actual studies done specifically to study the success rate, the efficacy when used to treat the symptoms of autism?

3:24There have been, but they've been very small. So what I've seen is about, you know, just a few dozen patients in these studies. So when we're talking about such a large disease, obviously it's hard to make those kind of broad generalizations, especially a disease where people do think that there is not one cause, there's not just one answer. Although everyone would like there to be one answer, one treatment, that's not really what the scientific community thinks. But there is still some basis for at least, you know, exploring this. And people I talked to today were saying, you know, they want to see the actual details of this report that we're expecting.

4:00We are still expecting this autism report. And they want to see, you know, what research the administration is looking at. And they want to study it further. But to say this will be something for everyone, this is a panacea, probably too early for that, Melissa. So just to be clear, we have not, the White House, RFK Jr., has not released the actual research on which these recommendations are being made. and is it clear to us that it is new research that has been conducted in this area or that it is an aggregate of some sort of past research? You know, I have not seen a report. I was just watching the event and then I tuned on here, so I have not seen it.

4:36It's possible that it came out in the last four minutes, but probably not at this point, but I will certainly be looking for that. He does, they do talk about this new study that came out last month that looks at the potential link between acetaminophen and autism. And that one came out last month. And one of the authors told me that he actually has spoken with the administration about this. So I think that is at least one new finding that they're pointing to, but that's also a meta-analysis. So it's basically just looking at all of the already conducted trials or conducted studies and trying to make new conclusions.

5:13All right. Angelica, thanks. Angelica Peebles. This is a very interesting subject. You can see the impact on companies. Right. Right. And that's what our focus is. What is the impact on the stocks? And let's look at Kenview, for example. Today it traded down on three times normal volumes, the levels that we last saw in June of last year and prior to that in October of 2023. So, you know, if you're looking for entry points, this could be the classic, you know, buy the news type of situation where now it's out there. We know what's being said. The stock has had a huge downdraft, but we've seen moves like this before in the name.

5:48So you don't have to trade the stock. But if you are, you know, of that ilk and you're inclined to, this is a pretty good level, I think, to play from the long side. Excuse me. It's clear, though, that I don't know that even if there is some pushback and we're waiting for the science, we're waiting for really the new studies, we're waiting for a combination of things, is going to take the pressure off the company and take the pressure off of at least this view, because this view has been out there by at least this head of HHS for some time. There's been a lot of allegations, some that, again, let's wait to hear the science behind it, if there is any.

6:24But ultimately, it does indicate that for the entire sector, there have been a lot of places to be hands off. And certainly anyone that's either attached to traditional vaccine businesses that have been core, almost predictable flows of money year after year are the ones that have been under the most pressure here. Kenview, since the spinoff from J &J is down, I think, almost 30 percent, another 25 percent since the IPO. This, as Guy said, is not a stock that's necessarily been free of concern, even without the headlines of today. All right. For more, let's bring in Dr. Ashish Jha, dean of Brown University School of Public Health and former White House COVID response coordinator during the Biden administration.

7:04Dr. Jha, great to have you with us. this physician's notice on acetaminophen for use during pregnancy. It doesn't seem as stringent as perhaps the markets had expected because it says that basically it allows doctors or doesn't allow, but it says you can still take it, but you should limit it. Is that not as bad as you thought it might be? Well, first of all, first of all, thanks for having me on. I mean, look, you know, obviously what women should be doing is they should be talking to their doctors about what they can take and not take. I've spoken to a lot of obstetricians today. They're largely outraged by all of this because there is no new science.

7:43The best study to date, two and a half million kids followed for 25 years in Sweden, showed no link between Tylenol and autism. The study from last year is a meta-analysis of a lot of small studies that are not actually as good. So, you know, this is really putting women in a box. It's going to make their lives much, much harder when they're pregnant. they can't take ibuprofen, and now we have the government telling them they shouldn't be taking Tylenol. It's really upsetting. Ultimately, though, is it left to the doctor's discretion? Because it doesn't sound like there are any limitations being put on by the government in terms of the ability of a doctor to say, no, you can go take Tylenol.

8:20It is up to you. Yeah. So two things are going to happen. One is I think doctors are going to continue recommending that women take Tylenol because the alternative, ibuprofen, is dangerous, especially in the second half of pregnancy. But I think a lot of doctors are now going to worry that it's going to open them up to lawsuits. And what this really is, is a trial lawyer full employment act. That's what this is going to do. It's going to open up, because remember, most women during pregnancy end up taking Tylenol. If a doctor says, yeah, sure, it's reasonable. And then if there's a bad health outcome, they're going to go after the doctors.

8:52And so that, unfortunately, is going to end up being the product here. And I think it's going to cause a lot of suffering of women during pregnancy. So when you take a look at the broader implications of this administration's HHS, when it comes down to these recommendations, I mean, doctors may be permitted to do what they want to do, but you're saying, you know, the aspect of malpractice, I mean, that will loom large. And so it really puts a chilling effect in terms of doctors' ability to really make a medical judgment. Absolutely. I mean, I think this is a problem that is going to have a very negative effect on women wanting to get pregnant.

9:31I mean, you can't take any pain medicines. You can't take any anti-fever medicines. I think it's going to make doctors hesitant. But again, let's go back to the evidence here. The evidence here, all of the evidence, most of the evidence suggests Tylenol is extremely safe. There are a couple of small studies. If there is real concern, FDA, the NIH should run large clinical trials. That's actually how we answer these questions. And if those clinical trials show that Tylenol is harmful, great. Then we should make that a proclamation. But that's not where we are. There's no new science here. Bobby Kennedy said that he wanted to get to the root cause of autism by September.

10:06He's found what I think is a convenient scapegoat. But the harm is going to be for pregnant women across the country. Dr. Jalitz, Karen Feynman, thanks for being on. How long would it take to do the kind of study that you're talking about that would hopefully be, I don't know that any study could be for sure definitive. but enough data to feel comfortable? Well, look, even a study, you know, let's say pregnancy is a short time period, so you're not going to be enrolling women for years. What you do is you, even if you get started with, let's say, 1 ,000 or 2 ,000 women, given how frequently this can happen, you can have good data in 12 to 18 months, a couple of years, definitely.

10:44Again, we're not looking for perfect data. But right now, all the evidence, most of the evidence, I should say most of the evidence, lean towards no relationship between Tylenol and autism. So even some evidence here, better evidence would be useful. Proclamations like this based on incredibly skimpy data, I do think is harmful. I wanted to sort of switch gears, but stay on the same topic, Dr. John, in terms of what the government is recommending effectively. And when it comes to vaccines, MMR, MMRV, ASIP has made various recommendations which may not match with what was in place before. And I'm wondering from a prescribing physician standpoint, what does that do in terms of insurance coverage and also in terms of the malpractice aspect that you had highlighted before?

11:30Yeah. So again, we should be guided by evidence and data on these things. One of the reasons multiple vaccines are combined into a single shot is we actually have very good immunologic and experiential data that this is very safe to do. And it's so much easier and more convenient for patients. Obviously, for children, they get fewer shots this way. That's why we have done this. And the safety track record here is really quite clear, right? For these, there actually have been large studies. And so by forcing those vaccine doses to get split up, you're just going to make it far less convenient. And actually, you're going to make it more likely that someone will not show up for that follow-up shot or for that second or third shot.

12:09So I think you're just making it much harder for people. You know, in terms of insurance coverage, that's a state-to-state basis. You're going to see a lot of states demand that insurance companies continue covering these things. But for me, this stuff should be guided by evidence and data, and we should be making it easier for people to do the right thing, not making it harder for people. Give us a big, big picture view, Dr. Jha, in terms of what you think the impact of RFK Jr.'s HHS will have on public health overall when you piece together all of the different recommendations that this agency is making.

12:41Look, let's take a look. We have real problems with health in America, right? We have an opioid crisis. We have a problem. We have serious problems with cardiovascular disease. We do have problems with obesity. Instead of targeting and really tackling those big issues, we are now talking about Tylenol in pregnancy. We're talking about whether you should take three shots or four with your vaccine. We are distracted by what I think are trivial issues for which there's very little scientific basis. We're taking the eye off the ball on the big things that are killing Americans. and that is what upsets me the most.

13:14All right. Dr. Jha, thank you so much for joining us. We do appreciate your perspective. Thank you. Ashish Jha. This is really interesting because you also have to think about how drug makers are allocating their research and development dollars and whether or not it aligns with an administration which has certain stances and may not match up with what you are researching. Are we going to get into the vaccine business? If we're in the vaccine business, Glaxo, Merck, Pfizer, AstraZeneca, do we stay in there? Do we make acquisitions now because we have to grow organically? We're seeing what's going on with Pfizer.

13:45I mean, they're all having those conversations without questions. But on a day like today where that news is out, I mean, some of these vaccine makers are actually higher. Now, maybe it's just anecdotal, but Moderna, which has been straight down for a while, actually had a decent day. Some of the other names as well. So this could be one of those classic by the news events, in my opinion. Yeah, I think Guy's making a great point. And also, Moderna and Kenview are very different stories. I mean, Moderna is kind of a one trick pony or at least certainly in terms of the recent run it's had. Whereas if you think about Tylenol and its percentage of the revenue base of Kenview, we're talking about it.

14:17I'm not sure it's totally broken out, but my understanding is I'll say it's somewhere around high single digits for a company that's going to have, I don't know, close to 20 billion in revenues. This is something that I think is very much worth talking about. And outside of the legal risk, which is where you really have problems here. because, again, look at the ball and chain that J &J has been under for a long time. And I'm not making a judgment on whether it's right or wrong. I'm just telling you it's had that. And so if you start to worry about Kenview having some legal attachment, forget what it does to a core brand.

14:49We're less – I mean, this isn't about the core brand, frankly. The core brand right now, this company would be a buy if you didn't have the legal brand. I'm sort of curious what insurers do, right? Make a vaccine recommendation or not. But is it just they're in the business of, you know, delivering profits. Right. And health care. Is it in their interest? And it very well may be to cover those vaccines, even if that's not what's recommended. If they believe it's a big problem right down the road, the person does not get it. Yeah. We haven't seen them yet say exactly what they're going to do, but I think it'll be interesting to see.

15:23Yeah, that'll be very telling to a developing story. Now, Argentina's market surging after Treasury Secretary Scott Besson posted on X that all options are on the table to support President Javier Mille's economic reforms. Leaders from the U.S. and Argentina will meet tomorrow at the U.N. General Assembly here in New York. Our Eamon Javers has more on what we can expect. Eamon. Yeah, Melissa, I don't think we can expect anything until after that meeting tomorrow between President Trump and President Mille of Argentina on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly. We saw Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent begin the day with a post on X social media right at the top of 9 o 'clock this morning, suggesting that the United States stands ready to support Argentina, calling it a systemically important U.S.

16:06ally in Latin America. Then shortly after that, after he tweeted out that all options for stabilization are on the table, the Treasury Secretary brought a few of us into his offices over at the Treasury to say that the U.S. is prepared for what he called a large and forceful potential intervention in Argentine markets. He wouldn't say specifically what tools he wants to use for that, but he said that the need for an intervention will depend on the market conditions, and he said that nothing would happen until that meeting in New York tomorrow. So we'll see whether the Treasury Secretary wakes up in the morning and feels like he needs to intervene there or not, given what we saw in the Argentine market today throughout the day.

16:48Clearly, the message was received, though, that the United States stands by Argentina. And you see that jump in the market there as market participants realize that the Treasury is standing there, as they used to say, with a big bazooka ready to go. And in this case, whether they have to use it or not will be a question for tomorrow, Melissa. Yeah. Eamon, thank you. Eamon Javers. It wasn't just the Merval, by the way. the peso surged also on this notion that there is a U.S. government backstop now for Argentinian assets. Emerging market specialist. Well, and if it was 25 years ago when I started really getting my teeth cut in emerging markets, you know, this kind of a headline would have meant 40 percent in Argentina.

17:28An IMF tranche meant everything. It meant hard currency, chasing soft currency. And that was the backstop you needed. Ultimately, what we learned even from Argentina is buying back your currency in the open market cost them a billion dollars last week. And that's not necessarily a great move, nor should we be lending against that currency. We should be lending against a dollar dynamic that would be repaying that dollar dynamic. This is a president that cares very much about doing good trade deals. I don't think Argentina is strategically critical to us in Latin America. I think Brazil is the other side of this story, and that may be part of this support.

18:00We know Malay has definitely been a Trump supporter. We know there's a lot of fiscal austerity that I think actually is very good for Argentina. And we also know that there's been a little bit of a political, let's just call it, opposition with Brazil and an attack upon their former leader, Bolsonaro. I think one of the reasons gold had the day that it had is probably on the back of this headline. And, you know, if you want to be long, a way to be long, Mercado Libre. Did I say that well? Sure, Melly. Melly. Nice. ARGT, it's probably 25, 26 percent M-E-L-I. And that came off from 90 and change in May to current levels.

18:36I mean, if you want to play it, and I think you can, it's through ARGT. Yeah, it's just kind of interesting, like, what sort of precedent this might set. If you think about this trade war that we have with, you know, 150 nations right now and how few of them have really been settled. I mean, this is a country that we export maybe$9,$10 billion worth and import maybe seven or eight or something like that. It just doesn't seem like that sort of important or at least, like, you know, systemically sort of important. So what's the precedent sets? How many of these other folks are we going to come in and bail out if we have to?

19:05I can't imagine that any problems in Argentina would really be a huge effect to our economy here. In terms of like any sort of critical mineral, I mean, they have a lot of lithium, but that's not a reason why we would consider them strategically important. No, I think there are a fair amount of mining assets. And if you look across both copper, PGMs, those dynamics, I think it's a very important place. Guys, I mean, there are places to get exposure to Argentina. I think some of the European banks, you know, BBVA, Santander, they have huge business in Latin America. That's where they are getting a lot of growth.

19:38I'm invested in Melly, BBVA, and Santander in Idevo. I think it's not a bad place to be investing. I would just be careful to say it's game on. It's not game on. Coming up, Apple going green. The stock now positive for the year after its latest iPhone launched. The read on sales this weekend and the next move for the tech giant, plus in contract. The real estate deal getting two stocks moving big today. and whether there's more consolidation coming for the space. Do not go anywhere. Fast Money is back in tune.

20:11This is Fast Money with Melissa Lee right here on CNBC.

20:23Welcome back to Fast Money. Apple shares climbing back into positive territory for the year. the last Mag 7 name to do so. As early data suggests, strong demand for its latest iPhones. A report from Bank of America says U.S. sales of the new models during the first weekend were nearly double that of the iPhone 16. And JD.com says that in China, sales of the first minute of launch were greater than those in the entire first day for last year's model. That's a massive improvement, Dan. Yeah. So for the last couple of years, iPhone units have not been growing. We know that. This year, it might be able to eke it out.

20:57Let's see what some of this data suggests here over the next few months. We're not going to actually get a real read for that. I mean, the good news is this, right? There's probably a few hundred million iPhones. We can, hearing this again and again, they're over four years old. And you can make the argument that these phones are somewhat iterative. There is a new phone, this Air, that's pretty sleek. Which you have. I have it. It's pretty dope. The iOS works really nice in it. And this is the first major hardware upgrade or like real important, I think. Were you waiting online overnight? No. Here's the one thing.

21:29For those folks, you literally get them holding your place in line. That's what I don't get. If you walk by them. I mean, I don't know how these – so they're checking out the lead times of these sorts of things. So when J.D. says that to you, are we going to trust J.D.? I don't know why what their incentives are one way or another to come out and say that. But the point is this. There's lots of iPhones. We know that. They don't really have an AI offering on the phone. The thing is, either does Samsung or the Google phones that much. You guys have been all over it. I'm pointing to Karen and Tim.

21:55I was a bit pessimistic about an upgrade cycle. But again, we don't know. I think the stock has had more to do with rotation within the MAG-7. Also, if you go back and look that, I don't know, that first week of August when Tim Cook, you know, kind of scampered into the White House, gave Trump a big piece of gold or something like that. Stock's been up 25 percent. You know what I mean? So I think that has had a good bit to do with it. Return on that gold is just, you know, fantastic. Well, thanks for saying. But I haven't loved Apple, actually. I think Tim has loved it. I'll take it. But, you know, the part of the story here, and Dan, I appreciate the dynamic.

22:34In fact, the question is, didn't we know that, like, before the 17 came out that people had to upgrade? In other words, and you've been consistent on this. I'm not saying you. I'm saying, like, when the world is suddenly coming around, I've been most surprised by the street coming around upgrading Apple. Now, JPMorgan's note talks about lead times and says lead times at 26 days. We can now do the math. We know Apple's telling their suppliers to kick up production and that demand is significantly higher. Therefore, they're upgrading 2026 revs by 7 percent and 2027 by 10 percent. So I get that. But we've all said everybody here has talked about Apple's install base.