Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. speaks quietly to President Donald Trump during a news conference about autism (Tom Brenner/Getty Images)

Kimberly-Clark to buy Tylenol maker Kenvue, target of Trump’s autism attacks, in a deal worth $48.7 billion

Shares of Kimberly-Clark dropped sharply on the news, while Kenvue jumped.

Nate Becker

11/3/25 7:47AM

Giant American drugmaker Kimberly-Clark said it is set to buy Kenvue, the maker of Tylenol whose stock has been pummeled by allegations from the Trump administration that its signature pain reliever causes autism, in a deal with an enterprise value of $48.7 billion.

Shares of Kimberly-Clark fell 15% premarket on the news, while Kenvue rose 20%.

Right off the bat, the deal could have a couple of obstacles standing in its way. Most notable would be the Trump administration, which could take aim at the merger, though the White House hasn’t commented on the deal yet.

And Kimberly-Clark’s precipitous stock drop already eats into the value that Kenvue shareholders would get in the deal: factoring in this morning’s premarket drop from Kimberly-Clark, the deal would value Kenvue at $18.42 a share.

That’s below the $21.01-a-share consideration in the deal announcement for Kenvue, based on Friday’s closing prices. Kenvue’s stock was at $20.54 in early September before The Wall Street Journal broke the news that the Trump administration was planning to link Tylenol to autism. The stock has fallen 30% since then.

The companies said they have identified about $1.9 billion in cost savings in the first three years after the deal closes, which they expect to happen in the second half of 2026. The companies also said they had identified “approximately $500 million in incremental profit from revenue synergies.”

Matt Phillips3/13/26

Oil settles Friday at highest level since start of war

US oil prices moved higher in afternoon trading Friday, sapping strength from the stock market as they posted their highest close since the start of the Iran war.

After another day where the Strait of Hormuz was essentially closed to global tanker traffic, US futures for West Texas Intermediate settled up 3.1% at $98.71 a barrel for an 8.6% weekly gain, per Dow Jones data.

American officials have discussed using the US Navy to escort tankers through the narrow waterway between Iran and Oman, but have said plans for such convoys are not ready yet. However, it is unclear if military convoys would bring an end to the war-related dislocations in the oil market.

“It could help,” Tom Liles, senior vice president of upstream research at energy consulting firm Rystad, told Sherwood News in a recent interview. “It could also go in a lot of different directions if a Navy ship is hit or if a tanker is hit.”

Oil Posts Weekly Gains As Middle East Conflict Drags On

Tasha Matsumoto

3/13/26

Stocks post third straight week of losses as Brent crude surges above $100

Stocks wiped out early gains to close lower amid the ongoing war in Iran.

Matt Phillips3/13/26

Memory stocks rebound off last weeks losses

Memory stocks Micron, Sandisk, Western Digital, and Seagate Technology Holdings rose again Friday, putting these crucial providers of chips for AI inference work on track for big weekly gains after last week’s steep losses following the outbreak of war with Iran.

There’s no obvious trigger for the move higher for these shares this week, other than a bit of a recovery in the AI trade more broadly — AI beneficiaries like IT cable and connections maker Amphenol and custom chip and networking company Marvell Technology clawed back some gains this week — perhaps due Oracle’s earnings earlier, and some mean reversion to boot.

Micron is due to report earnings after the close of trading on Wednesday, with the company catching a couple price target hikes this week, including one from Wedbush on Friday.

Sandisk is something of a different story, as its enormous gains over the last 12 months — roughly 1,200% — have made it a momentum play beloved by the retail crowd.

It was up about 20% this week at around 11 a.m. ET. And its nearly 170% gain this year keeps the stock on top of the S&P 500, in terms of price performance.

Luke Kawa

3/13/26

The S&P 500’s internals are awful... while it’s still less than 5% from its record closing high

The breadth of negative momentum within the index’s constituents is even worse than at the tariff-induced market bottom in April 2025.