Yahoo Finance

Eli Lilly is a drug firm with a focus on neuroscience, cardiometabolic, cancer, and immunology. Lilly's key products include Verzenio for cancer; Mounjaro, Zepbound, Jardiance, Trulicity, Humalog, and Humulin for diabetes; and Taltz and Olumiant for immunology.

Sanofi develops and markets drugs with a concentration in oncology, immunology, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, over-the-counter treatments and vaccines. However, the company's decision in late 2019 to pull back from the cardio-metabolic area will likely reduce the firm's footprint in this large therapeutic area. The company offers a diverse array of drugs with its highest revenue generator, Dupixent, representing just over 20% of total sales, but profits are shared with Regeneron. About 40% of total revenue comes from the United States and 25% from Europe. Emerging markets represent the majority of the remainder of revenue.

The benchmark U.S. 10-year Treasury bond yield is near 4.5%. The yield was headed toward the key 5% threshold in April on hotter-than-expected inflation data, but turned lower after the May nonfarm payrolls report indicated that the jobs market may be cooling. The Federal Reserve appears finished raising interest rates for this monetary tightening cycle, and Wall Street is eagerly seeking hints that the fed funds rate may start inching down. Still, Chairman Powell is maintaining a cautious tone. Argus Fed watcher Kevin Heal is holding on to his projection that the first rate cut is likely in the second half of this year. The U.K. is seeing a similar trend, with a 10-year benchmark bond yield at 4.2%. Sentiment there is also growing that rates might be elevated for longer than initially expected, as the U.K. has experienced rampant inflation over the past few years. Elsewhere, political uncertainty in South Africa and Brazil is keeping sovereign-debt interest rates near 10%. Russian sovereign-debt yields are above 14%, up 200 basis points from three months ago, this as the conflict with Ukraine drags on. At the other extreme among the biggest nations, yields for Japanese debt remain low at 0.9%. From a portfolio perspective, we would avoid over-weighting foreign-government fixed-income securities given their volatile yields, sovereign risks, and currency repatriation issues.

Pfizer is a leading developer and manufacturer of pharmaceuticals and biotech drugs. Its products include oncology and immunology drugs, treatments for rare diseases, and vaccines.