Top stories
U.S. Wages Rose 3.1 Per Cent in the Year to September, 0.6 Per Cent Less Than Prices. Employers' Health Costs Rose 6.4 Per Cent.
Exxon and Chevron Earned $25.3 Billion Last Quarter. Refining Made Them Almost as Much as Pumping Oil, and Both Pumped Less.
DoorDash Will Pay $65 a Share, About $17 Billion, for Instacart. If Antitrust Law Blocks the Deal, DoorDash Owes Instacart $1.25 Billion.
Caterpillar's Backlog Hit a Record $78 Billion, Up 96 Per Cent in a Year. Its Dealers Plan to Cut $1.6 Billion of Inventory This Quarter.
The Cheesecake Factory Served 9.5 Per Cent More Guests Last Quarter. At Chipotle, Transactions Rose 0.8 Per Cent.
Ford's Electric Unit Lost $1.06 Billion Last Quarter, a Quarter Less Than a Year Ago. Per Vehicle Shipped, the Loss Rose to About $31,000.
The Fed Held Rates at 3.75 to 4 Per Cent, and Two Officials Voted for a Hike. The Next Morning, Core Inflation Came In at 3.1 Per Cent.
Weil Gotshal Brought In About $2.1 Billion Last Year. Its Leaders Now Recommend Closing the 95-Year-Old Firm.
The "Endless" Cruise Ship Paid $700 a Ton for Fuel Before the Iran War. It Stopped Sailing After Paying $2,000 to $3,000.
The Pentagon Wants Its Major Bases Able to Run 90 Days on Their Own. Britain Is Asking Households to Manage for Three.
Two Taps & Friends Puts Three Defense Lawyers on the Week's Biggest Cases. In Legal Media, Expertise Is the Product.
The Big Read
The NumbersSouth Korea Exported $115.3 Billion in October, 93.7 Per Cent More Than a Year Ago. Chips Supplied Almost Three-Quarters of the Increase.
The headline growth rate is flattered by last year's Chuseok holiday. Adjusted for working days, exports still rose 76 per cent, and by this publication's arithmetic chips and computers account for more than four-fifths of the dollar increase.
A container terminal in Busan, South Korea's largest port, in March 2006. File photograph.
South Korea's exports rose 93.7 per cent from a year earlier to $115.28 billion in October, driven by a 259.4 per cent jump in semiconductor sales to $56.44 billion, the trade ministry said on Sunday. Chips made up 48.9 per cent of everything the country sold abroad.
It is the second-largest month on record, after September's $121.1 billion, Xinhua reported. The growth rate is the strongest since January 1974 and slightly above the 93.2 per cent median forecast in a Reuters poll of economists, Reuters reported. The number is enormous. Part of it is the calendar.
Some, but not most. October 2025 contained most of the Chuseok harvest holiday, so it had fewer working days than this October. The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy's working-day-adjusted daily average was $5.24 billion, up 76 per cent, according to Seoul Economic Daily.
Markets
OPEC+ Left Its December Oil Targets Unchanged. Brent Ended the Week at $117.64, $12.64 Above Washington's Forecast for the Quarter.
A production target only matters if a country can reach it.
World
China's Factory Index Fell to 49.3 in October. Construction New Orders Fell 5.7 Points, to 40.
September's recovery in factories and building sites lasted one month.
Weather
New York City
--°
- —
- —% humidity
- Wind — mph
- H — · L —
Infrastructure Everybody Depends On Should Not Be Owned by a Competitor
Coverage Should Follow the Approval, Not the Advice
You Cannot Delegate the Thing You Have Never Done
World
The Bank of Canada Raised Rates Expecting About 2 Per Cent Growth. Two Days Later, the Data Put the Quarter Nearer 1.2 Per Cent.
The central bank's hike rested partly on growth picking up.
National Express's Owner Agreed to a 46p-a-Share Takeover Worth £308 Million. The Buyer Is Taking On a Company Valued at £2.3 Billion, and Most of That Is Debt.
The 55 per cent premium is the headline.
Japan's Central Bank Says Underlying Inflation Is at Its 2 Per Cent Goal. Its 1.25 Per Cent Rate Is Still 1.35 Points Below Its Forecast.
Six weeks ago two board members voted against raising rates.
Lagarde Will Leave the ECB on 7 February, Almost Nine Months Early. Three of the Six Seats on Its Executive Board Will Change Hands by the End of May.
Lagarde says she wants the freedom to speak and to engage beyond monetary policy.
Got a tip for us?
Editors read every submission. Here is how to send documents, on background or on the record.
How to submitThe Picture
Argentina's 1995 Immunity Law Lists 8 Ways to Sue a Foreign State. Two Courts Say Juan Carlos Ruffier's Case Against the U.S. Fits None of Them.
Technology
AI Researchers Moved Their Date for Human-Level Machines 13 Years in One Survey. Nova Reach Founder Rishabh Singh Has Stopped Picking a Year.
Business
American Express Raised Its Forecast After Earning $5.42 a Share. Its Cards Now Carry an Average Fee of $136 a Year, 14 Per Cent More Than a Year Ago.
Business
P&G Raised Prices Just 0.4 Per Cent and Sold 2.4 Per Cent More Volume. It Expects a $1.4 Billion Commodity Hit, Most of It Still to Come.
Business
American Airlines Made $115 Million Flying Passengers Last Quarter and Paid $435 Million in Interest. Fuel Will Cost It More Than $7 Billion Extra This Year.
Editor's Choice
Comcast Lost 144,000 Broadband Customers in a Quarter and Has Stopped Buying Back Its Shares. Its Parks Profit Fell 17 Per Cent.
The cable business that built Comcast is shrinking by a few hundred thousand customers a year, and the media business is covering for it.
Latest News
Everything we have published, newest firstUPS Raised Its Revenue Forecast by $1.4 Billion and Its Profit Forecast by $100 Million. The Fourth Quarter Now Has to Earn 37 Per Cent of the Year's Profit.
UPS said on 27 October that third-quarter revenue rose 6.7 per cent to $22.9 billion while adjusted earnings fell to $1.69 a share from $1.74. It raised its 2026 revenue outlook to about $92.6 billion, from $91.2 billion, and its adjusted operating profit target to about $8.75 billion, from $8.65 billion. U.S. parcel volume fell 3.3 per cent.
Ovintiv Will Pay About $890 Million for Logan Energy, or $44,500 for Each Barrel a Day It Produces. By Its Own Benchmark, $340 Million of That Is for Wells Not Yet Drilled.
Ovintiv said on 26 October that it will buy Logan Energy, a Montney oil producer, for C$1.40 a share in cash, about $890 million (C$1.26 billion) including net debt. Logan produces about 20,000 barrels of oil equivalent a day. The deal needs Logan shareholder, court and regulatory approval and is expected to close early in 2027.
Business
McKesson Is Paying $1.4 Billion for Half of Option Care. The Deal Sets Up a Framework for It to Buy the Rest.
Clayton Dubilier & Rice and McKesson agreed on Monday to take Option Care Health, the largest independent home infusion company in the United States, private for $32.05 a share. McKesson is putting in about $1.4 billion for 49 per cent, and the agreement sets out a framework for it to buy the private equity firm's majority later. Lenders have committed more money to the deal than the two buyers have.
Brazil's Stock Index Fell as Much as 17 Per Cent After Lula Won by 4.4 Million Votes. Measured in Dollars, It Closed About a Fifth Lower.
Investors had positioned for a win by Flávio Bolsonaro. By this publication's arithmetic, the index closed about 20 per cent lower in dollar terms, and the Treasury has cancelled two bond auctions to stop long-term rates climbing further.
Verizon Added 406,000 Phone Subscribers in the Third Quarter, Up From 44,000 a Year Ago. It Says It Spent 41 Per Cent Less on Promotions to Win Them.
The phone numbers beat AT&T's for the quarter. The new forecast implies Verizon must add 455,000 to 555,000 more in the fourth quarter, by this publication's arithmetic, and its net debt is $13.7 billion higher than in December.
Business
EQT Is Paying a 21 Per Cent Premium for Range Resources, in Stock. By Our Arithmetic, the Premium Equals Almost Seven Years of the Promised Savings.
EQT agreed on 25 October to buy Range Resources in an all-stock deal, giving 0.987 EQT shares for each Range share. Range holders would own about 27 per cent of the combined natural gas producer, which the companies value at more than $50 billion including debt. Both sets of shareholders must vote, and the deal is not expected to close before the first quarter of 2027.
Lazard's Adjusted Revenue Rose 11 Per Cent in the Third Quarter. Its Adjusted Profit Fell 35 Per Cent, as Pay Held at 69.9 Per Cent of Revenue.
Lazard said on 22 October that adjusted net revenue rose 11 per cent to $805 million in the third quarter, with advisory and asset management both up. Adjusted earnings fell 36 per cent to 36 cents a share as the adjusted compensation ratio rose to 69.9 per cent from 65.5 per cent. The firm's long-term target is 60 per cent or below.
The growth rate has risen in each quarter of 2026.
National News
The Pentagon Is Lending Border Officials One Heat-Ray Weapon for Seven Months. In Two Decades It Has Never Been Used in Combat.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has authorized a seven-month "temporary loan" of one Active Denial System, a millimeter-wave crowd-control weapon, to the Department of Homeland Security to test and develop tactics for possible use at the southern border, CNN reported on 21 October. Pentagon personnel may not operate it. Nothing has been deployed, and DHS's request did not say where or how it would be tested.
What We’re Following
View all
Meta Spent $34.9 Billion on Capital Projects in One Quarter and Burned $2.1 Billion of Free Cash. Its Commitments Now Total $454.5 Billion.
The Richest Fifth of U.S. Households Spends $1,861 a Year on Its Pets. Cinnante Canine Is Building a Business Around Them.
Union Pacific's Revenue Rose 15 Per Cent, and 6 Per Cent Without Fuel Surcharges. At CSX, Surcharges Supplied More Than Half of a $430 Million Gain.
AT&T Took a $2.6 Billion Charge on the Mexican Business It Agreed to Sell for $2 Billion. GAAP Earnings Fell to $0.13 a Share; Adjusted Earnings Rose to $0.65.
PulteGroup's Orders Fell 6 Per Cent With Mortgage Rates Above 7 Per Cent. Its Land and Housing Inventory Has Grown by $1.2 Billion This Year.
PulteGroup said on 22 October that third-quarter net new orders fell 6 per cent to 6,208 homes and earnings fell to $2.53 a share from $2.96, as closings dropped 9 per cent. Chief executive Ryan Marshall said rising rates had pushed "even more consumers to the sidelines." The average 30-year mortgage rate was 7.32 per cent in the week to 22 October, against 6.19 per cent a year earlier, Freddie Mac said.
LKQ Replaced Its Chief Executive as Its European Margin Fell to as Little as 4.1 Per Cent. His Successor Gets $15.3 Million to Sign On.
The board has been reviewing a possible sale of the company since January. It has now changed the person running it, hired turnaround advisers for Europe and set a low bar for half of the new chief executive's performance pay.
Opinion Voices
Argument and analysis from our columnists
Featured Voices
The reporters and editors behind the coverage
Cory Chamberlain
Senior Writer
AI Researchers Moved Their Date for Human-Level Machines 13 Years in One Survey. Nova Reach Founder Rishabh Singh Has Stopped Picking a Year.
JPMorgan Reports Tuesday After a Quarter With $5.6 Billion of One-Off Gains. Analysts Expect Revenue of About $51 Billion.
Devon Is Selling 4 Per Cent of Its Production for $4.2 Billion. The Buyer Has Now Made 10 Eagle Ford Deals Since 2023.
Alison Acosta
Technology desk (house byline)
South Korea Exported $115.3 Billion in October, 93.7 Per Cent More Than a Year Ago. Chips Supplied Almost Three-Quarters of the Increase.
DoorDash Will Pay $65 a Share, About $17 Billion, for Instacart. If Antitrust Law Blocks the Deal, DoorDash Owes Instacart $1.25 Billion.
Ford's Electric Unit Lost $1.06 Billion Last Quarter, a Quarter Less Than a Year Ago. Per Vehicle Shipped, the Loss Rose to About $31,000.
Daniel Okafor
Markets desk (house byline)
OPEC+ Left Its December Oil Targets Unchanged. Brent Ended the Week at $117.64, $12.64 Above Washington's Forecast for the Quarter.
China's Factory Index Fell to 49.3 in October. Construction New Orders Fell 5.7 Points, to 40.
The Bank of Canada Raised Rates Expecting About 2 Per Cent Growth. Two Days Later, the Data Put the Quarter Nearer 1.2 Per Cent.
Margaret Holloway
Leadership desk (house byline)
National Express's Owner Agreed to a 46p-a-Share Takeover Worth £308 Million. The Buyer Is Taking On a Company Valued at £2.3 Billion, and Most of That Is Debt.
Lagarde Will Leave the ECB on 7 February, Almost Nine Months Early. Three of the Six Seats on Its Executive Board Will Change Hands by the End of May.
U.S. Wages Rose 3.1 Per Cent in the Year to September, 0.6 Per Cent Less Than Prices. Employers' Health Costs Rose 6.4 Per Cent.
Thomas Gutierrez
Media and Culture desk (house byline)
The "Endless" Cruise Ship Paid $700 a Ton for Fuel Before the Iran War. It Stopped Sailing After Paying $2,000 to $3,000.
Two Taps & Friends Puts Three Defense Lawyers on the Week's Biggest Cases. In Legal Media, Expertise Is the Product.
A Catholic Hospital System's Affiliate Will Pay $23.50 a Share for Surgery Partners, a 49 Per Cent Premium. Bain Capital Offered $25.75 Last Year and Is Keeping Its Stake.
The Story So Far
The Hormuz Closure29 stories
- 1 Nov OPEC+ Left Its December Oil Targets Unchanged. Brent Ended the Week at $117.64, $12.64 Above Washington's Forecast for the Quarter.
- 10 Oct Oil Fell on Trump's Pledge of No Iran Strike, Then Closed Higher on a Hurricane. Tanker Attacks Are Running at a Wartime High.
- 3 Oct Oil Is Up 61 Per Cent Since February. American Natural Gas Costs What It Did a Year Ago.
- 3 Oct The Trucking Companies Going Bankrupt Are Small. Diesel Is Paid in Days, Freight in Months.
- 3 Oct The G-7 Will Release 100 Million Barrels. Some May Already Have Been Promised in March.
- 29 Sept LNG Canada Will Double to 28 Million Tonnes. The Announcement Has a Date in the 2030s and No Price.
Most Read
-
The Ports Fixed Themselves. The Roads Behind Them Did Not
National News
-
Everyone Diversified Their Model Suppliers. Almost Nobody Diversified the Layer Underneath
AI
-
Agencies Cannot Hire Fast Enough to Spend What Congress Appropriated
National News
-
The Equipment Lease Was the Last Easy Credit. It Is Not Any More
Business
-
The Delivery Room Is the First Thing a Rural Hospital Closes
Health
-
The Quiet Revenue Line in Your Index Fund
Markets
-
School Districts Are Budgeting for Students Who Never Arrived
National News
Editors’ Picks
America Imported a Record $421 Billion in August. Without Computers, Chips and Telecom Gear, Imports Are Down This Year.
Schneider Is Paying a 42% Premium for PTC. The Price Is Still Below Where PTC Traded a Year Ago.
Customs Took In $333 Billion in Fiscal 2026. Refunds Sent About $147 Billion Back Out.
The Cranberry Brief