What We Learned This Week

Apple Card Reset: JPMorgan Chase reached a deal this week to take over the Apple credit card portfolio from Goldman Sachs, bringing a long-running unwind process closer to completion. Goldman has been looking to exit the partnership for more than two years, and the transaction gives JPMorgan access to Apple’s massive customer base while providing Apple with a far deeper banking partner to support its growing financial services ambitions. Mastercard will remain the card’s payment network, even after strong competition from Visa to win the business. Under the deal, JPMorgan will assume roughly $20 billion in outstanding balances, making it one of the largest co-branded card programs in the world.

What stands out is the price. Goldman is selling the portfolio at a discount of more than $1 billion, an unusual outcome in a market where co-branded card balances typically trade at a premium. The markdown reflects the portfolio’s higher exposure to subprime borrowers and delinquency rates that have run above industry averages since the program launched in 2019. For JPMorgan, that risk is manageable. The bank has extensive experience underwriting and scaling large credit card programs and should be better positioned to stabilize performance over time. For Goldman, the exit sharpens its focus on core businesses like investment banking and ultra-high-net-worth wealth management. The transition is expected to take roughly two years, but the end result could be a more durable Apple financial platform with a partner built to operate at scale.

GLP-1 Expands: Amazon announced last week that its pharmacy unit will begin selling the newly approved pill version of Novo Nordisk’s blockbuster GLP-1 weight-loss drug Wegovy. The oral formulation contains the same active ingredient as the injectable version but comes in a more accessible and consumer-friendly format. Pricing is a key part of the rollout: eligible insured customers will pay $25 per month, while cash-paying customers will pay $149. Both prices are meaningfully lower than injectable GLP-1s and stem from a broader agreement with the Trump administration aimed at expanding access. Novo has also confirmed the pill will be available through other major pharmacies like CVS and Costco, as well as telehealth platforms such as GoodRx.

This is an important development for Novo Nordisk, which has ceded some ground to Eli Lilly in the GLP-1 race. Being first to market with an oral option should help broaden its addressable patient base, even if the pill is somewhat less effective than injections. Lilly is expected to follow closely with its own pill, keeping competition intense. More broadly, the shift toward lower-cost, easier-to-use formats marks the next phase of the GLP-1 story. As accessibility improves and distribution widens, this category continues to expand well beyond early adopters, with implications for healthcare, consumer behavior, and the companies positioned to scale it.

Mortgage Rates Ease: Mortgage rates fell to their lowest level in years last week after the Trump administration directed Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to purchase $200 billion in mortgage-backed securities. While neither agency originates loans, their increased buying injects liquidity into the system by freeing up capital for lenders to originate new mortgages, helping keep rates lower. Following the announcement, mortgage rates dropped roughly 20 basis points to around 6%. For the average buyer, that can translate into a few hundred dollars per month in savings, a meaningful improvement at the margin. And while aggressive intervention carries risks in overheated markets, today’s housing environment remains far from stretched, with transaction volumes still historically weak.

That said, the move alone is unlikely to reignite housing activity in a meaningful way. Home prices remain elevated, and many buyers still struggle to qualify even at rates below 6%. Still, incremental relief matters after a long period of stubbornly high mortgage costs, especially as broader interest rates have already come down. Slightly lower borrowing costs can give homebuilders more flexibility with incentives, support renovation activity, and help thaw a market where both buyers and sellers have been stuck on the sidelines. It may not be a catalyst, but it’s a step toward restoring some much-needed circulation in a frozen housing system.