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Conway Gittens: I’m Conway Gittens reporting from the New York Stock Exchange. Here’s what we’re watching on TheStreet today.

Wall Street took a break from setting record closing highs as investors await more insight on Federal Reserve thinking. Fed Chairman Jerome Powell is speaking this week and the numbers from the Fed’s preferred inflation gauge for August are set to bel be released.

Meanwhile, consumers will also be in the spotlight on Thursday with quarterly numbers from Costco and Carmax.

Related: One Ozempic patient reveals major drug-powered weight loss truths

In other news, One day after the CEO of Novo Nordisk received a tongue lashing on Capitol Hill for the high price of Ozempic, there’s a report suggesting the blockbuster diabetes drug could help treat opioid addiction.

According to a paper published by the Journal of the American Medical Association or JAMA Network Open, Ozempic’s key ingredient semaglutide helped “significantly lower” the risk of an opioid overdose. The comparison was made with other treatments for diabetes in patients diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes and opioid addiction.

It is believed the GLP-1 drug class, which includes Ozempic, can shut down or diminish the desire for opioids, just like it does for food. However, authors of the study contend more research must be done.

The report creates a ray of hope in the fight against the ravages of opioid addictions, which have resulted in a public health emergency declaration since 2017.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention blamed the opioid epidemic for more than 81,000 deaths in 2023 up from roughly 50,000 in 2019.

That’ll do it for your Daily Briefing. From the New York Stock Exchange, I’m Conway Gittens with TheStreet.

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