New York, Feb 22, 2026, 12:09 EST — Market closed.
- Lilly shares ended Friday lower, trailing a broader Wall Street rally.
- Traders head into next week watching obesity-drug pricing and supply signals.
- A March conference appearance and an April FDA call sit on the near-term calendar.
Eli Lilly and Company (LLY) shares fell 1.34% on Friday to end at $1,009.52, the last close before U.S. markets shut for the weekend. (Reuters)
The slide matters because Lilly has become one of the market’s cleanest reads on the obesity-drug trade — strong demand, lots of expectations, and not much room for stumbles. With the stock still priced for growth, small shifts in sentiment can show up fast.
It also lands as investors reprice macro risk. Policy headlines are moving markets again, and they can spill into big-cap defensives when money rotates.
On Friday, the S&P 500 rose 0.69% while the Nasdaq added 0.90% after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down President Donald Trump’s global tariffs, and after fresh data showed growth slowed and inflation picked up. “Today is a removal of some uncertainty,” said Mike Dickson, head of research and quantitative strategies at Horizon Investments. (Reuters)
For Lilly, the near-term story still runs through GLP-1 drugs — a class that mimics gut hormones to lower blood sugar and curb appetite — and the next wave of products that could widen access. A filing showed Lilly had $1.5 billion of pre-launch inventory for its experimental oral weight-loss pill orforglipron ahead of an expected FDA decision in April; rival Novo Nordisk launched a once-daily weight-loss pill in the U.S. earlier this month, with prescriptions topping 26,000 in its second full week, IQVIA data shared by an analyst showed. (Reuters)
Regulators are another moving part. The FDA said on Feb. 6 it intends to take steps to restrict GLP-1 active ingredients used in mass-marketed, non-approved compounded drugs, warning companies that failures to address violations could bring legal action, including seizure and injunction. (U.S. Food and Drug Administration)
Investors also have a scheduled checkpoint. Lilly said Chief Financial Officer Lucas Montarce will appear in a fireside chat at TD Cowen’s annual health care conference on March 2, with a webcast on the company’s investor site. (Nasdaq)
But the path is not one-way. Price pressure in obesity medicines, shifting reimbursement rules, and any hint that supply is tightening again could hit expectations, while competition keeps widening beyond Novo Nordisk.
On the tape, Lilly’s shares are about 11% below their 52-week high of $1,133.95 set on Jan. 8, and Friday’s volume of about 3.2 million shares matched the 50-day average; the stock outperformed Johnson & Johnson and Pfizer on the day, while AbbVie ended slightly higher, MarketWatch data showed. (MarketWatch)
When trading resumes on Monday, investors will be watching whether Friday’s risk-on tone holds — and whether Lilly can keep the obesity-drug narrative pointed up as the March 2 conference slot approaches, with the FDA’s April decision on orforglipron sitting just behind it.
