Good evening and welcome to Markets Desk, your close of business briefing on what's moving markets and the world.
A significant development out of oncology research today as a new experimental pill called daraxonrasib has shown it can nearly double survival time for patients with advanced pancreatic cancer. Researchers presented the findings Sunday, with a UCLA physician describing it as a very large step forward. Pancreatic cancer remains one of medicine's most stubborn killers, and while this is not a cure, the data is generating genuine clinical excitement.
Shifting to Omaha, Berkshire Hathaway's incoming chief Greg Abel has been quietly reshaping the portfolio. Abel sold out of both Visa and Mastercard, two of the most dominant payment networks on the planet, yet held firm on American Express. The move signals a philosophical preference for AmEx's closed-loop model, where the company owns the customer relationship end to end, a structure Warren Buffett has long argued produces superior pricing power and loyalty.
And on the macro and geopolitical front, a new argument is gaining traction in foreign policy circles that President Trump could accelerate an end to the Russia-Ukraine war by coordinating a Baltic air and maritime pressure campaign, effectively using NATO's geographic chokepoints to bring Moscow to the negotiating table. Whether Washington has the appetite for that kind of coordinated leverage remains the open question.
That's the tape. Markets Desk, signing off the floor.
