The main thing for the morning: a pill instead of a shot, ships for the U.S. Navy and $40 billion for Hollywood

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved Novo Nordisk's first semaglutide-based GLP-1 obesity pill, intensifying the company's competition with Eli Lilly. ByteDance, owner of TikTok, plans to invest about $23 billion in AI infrastructure amid record growth in debt financing in the global tech sector. These and other topics - in our review of key events for the morning of December 23.

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the first-ever GLP-1 tablet for the treatment of obesity, an oral form of semaglutide from Novo Nordisk, the maker of Wegovy, CNBC writes. The drug is also approved to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease in obese patients. The drug is expected to launch in early 2026, and a starting dose of 1.5 mg will be available starting in January at $149 per month. Novo Nordisk shares rose about 10% on the news.

The new form may increase access to the therapy for patients who are afraid of injections or don't consider their condition severe enough for shots. In a Phase III clinical trial, the pill helped patients reduce their weight by an average of 16.6% over 64 weeks. The drug's approval gives Novo Nordisk a temporary advantage over Eli Lilly, which is preparing its own obesity pill. Analysts estimate the market for GLP-1 drugs at about $100 billion by the 2030s, and the pill could take up to a quarter of that volume.

Shares of South Korea's Hanwha Ocean jumped 10% after U.S. President Donald Trump announced the company's participation in a program to build new frigates for the U.S. Navy, CNBC reports. The ships are planned to be built at Hanwha Philly Shipyard in Philadelphia, which was acquired by the company in 2024. Hanwha Ocean intends to invest $5 billion in the facility as part of South Korea's $150 billion shipbuilding commitment.

The project is part of a broader trade agreement between the U.S. and South Korea to cut U.S. tariffs on Korean exports to 15% in exchange for Seoul's $350 billion investment commitment. Shares of South Korean defense companies have risen sharply on the back of rising defense spending, with Hanwha Aerospace and Hyundai Rotem adding more than 170% and 270% since the start of the year and Hanwha Ocean adding more than 220%.

TikTok owner China's ByteDance is considering plans for a capital investment of 160 billion yuan ($22.7 billion) in 2026 to build artificial intelligence infrastructure, the Financial Times reported, citing sources. Reuters could not immediately confirm the information. The potential investment fits into a global race by tech companies for computing power for AI.

Against this background, global IT companies have sharply increased borrowing: according to Dealogic, in 2025 they have placed bonds for $428 billion, of which $342 billion came from the United States. Companies that have traditionally relied on their own cash flow are increasingly using debt - because of low borrowing costs and strong investor demand. Analysts say AI capex is becoming a structural shift, although the rising debt burden increases the risks if AI investments fail to meet expectations, despite the strong profitability and massive cash reserves of the biggest players.

Shares of Paramount Skydance and Warner Bros. Discovery rose sharply after Oracle founder Larry Ellison agreed to personally provide $40.4 billion in financing for Paramount's proposed takeover of Warner Bros., Yahoo Finance reports. Paramount's securities added more than 4%, Warner Bros. - over 3.5%. Ellison's decision is aimed at allaying the WBD board's concerns about the undercapitalization of the deal, which was previously rejected in favor of a Netflix bid.

The deal involves the purchase of Warner Bros. assets at $30 per share and is valued at $108.4 billion. Paramount said the Ellison family, which owns a large stake in Oracle, guarantees full coverage of the equity portion of the deal. Netflix's competing bid to integrate Warner Bros., HBO and HBO Max has faced antitrust risks: the combined company would control about a third of the U.S. streaming market, which has already attracted the attention of Donald Trump's administration and regulators.

- Japan's broad Topix index rose 0.4 percent on Dec. 23, while the Nikkei 225 was little changed.

- Hong Kong's Hang Seng index was little changed, while mainland China's CSI 300 index was up 0.36%.

- In South Korea, the Kospi index was up 0.4 percent and the Kosdaq was falling 1.01 percent.

- Australia's S&P/ASX 200 was up 1.1 percent.

- S&P 500 futures, Nasdaq Composite futures and Dow Jones Industrial Average exchange-traded contracts were little changed.

This article was AI-translated and verified by a human editor