Novo Nordisk Surges to 75th in Liquidity Amid Lilly's Weight-Loss Setback

On August 8, 2025, Novo Nordisk (NVO) surged 4.76% amid reduced trading activity, with a volume of $1.19 billion—down 40.43% from the prior day—ranking it 75th in market liquidity. The rally followed Eli Lilly’s announcement that its experimental GLP-1 obesity pill, orforglipron, demonstrated a 12.4% average weight loss over 72 weeks, trailing Novo’s Wegovy, which achieved 14.9% in a 2021 trial. Analysts noted Lilly’s results fell short of expectations, with a 25% dropout rate at the highest dose, raising questions about the study’s design and efficacy compared to Wegovy’s established track record.

Novo’s shares had faced pressure earlier in the week due to profit warnings and leadership changes, but the weak performance of Lilly’s drug reignited investor confidence in its obesity treatment dominance. The Danish firm’s CagriSema trial, showing nearly 23% weight loss in some patients, further reinforced its market position. However, concerns about Lilly’s pill’s scalability and patient retention rates highlighted lingering uncertainties in the competitive GLP-1 sector. The stock’s rebound underscored its role as a bellwether in a market projected to reach $150 billion by the late 2020s.

The strategy of purchasing the top 500 stocks by daily trading volume and holding them for one day delivered a 166.71% return from 2022 to the present, outperforming the benchmark return of 29.18% by 137.53%. This underscores the role of liquidity concentration in short-term stock performance, particularly in volatile markets.