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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.
Opponents Have Spent $304 Million to Defeat California's One-Time Billionaire Tax. That Is About 0.3 Per Cent of What Its Backers Say It Would Raise.
Trian Has Offered $7.35 a Share to Take Wendy's Private, About $1.4 Billion. That Is Roughly Half the $2.7 Billion of Debt the Bidders Would Keep.
Ares Capital Will Pay a 30 Per Cent Premium for an Apollo-Managed Lender. The $10.88 Price Is Still 15 Per Cent Below What the Lender Says Its Loans Are Worth.
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 Big Read
MarketsJapan'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. On Friday the only dissenter wanted a bigger increase. By the bank's own forecasts, Japanese rates are still well below inflation, and the bank now says the main risk is an overshoot.
The Bank of Japan's head office in Nihonbashi, Tokyo, in August 2011. File photograph.
The Bank of Japan held its policy rate at 1.25 per cent on Friday 30 October and said, for the first time since adopting a 2 per cent inflation target in January 2013, that underlying inflation is now "generally consistent" with that target.
The hold was expected. The sentence was not routine. For more than a decade the bank's problem was inflation that would not rise. Its Outlook Report now says the risk worth guarding against is the opposite: that underlying inflation "will deviate upward to a level above the price stability target."
It kept the rate and changed the language. The Policy Board voted 8-1 to keep the uncollateralized overnight call rate at around 1.25 per cent, its Statement on Monetary Policy says. Hajime Takata dissented and proposed 1.5 per cent, arguing that with underlying inflation at target, the bank needed to "step up the pace" of moving toward the neutral rate. His proposal was defeated.
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.
Business
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.
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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
Markets
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.
The Euro Area Grew 0.4 Per Cent Last Quarter, About 1.6 Per Cent at an Annual Rate. France Shrank, and Its Jobless Rate Rose to 8.5 Per Cent.
France and Italy, the two largest euro economies after Germany, produced no growth between them.
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.
The Employment Cost Index holds the mix of jobs constant, which makes it a clean read on wage pressure.
Exxon and Chevron Earned $25.3 Billion Last Quarter. Refining Made Them Almost as Much as Pumping Oil, and Both Pumped Less.
With Brent averaging $97 a barrel, up from $69 a year earlier, the two largest U.S. oil companies paid out about half their free cash to shareholders and used much of the rest to cut debt.
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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.
World
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.
Media
Comcast Lost 144,000 Broadband Customers in a Quarter and Has Stopped Buying Back Its Shares. Its Parks Profit Fell 17 Per Cent.
Technology
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.
Business
The Richest Fifth of U.S. Households Spends $1,861 a Year on Its Pets. Cinnante Canine Is Building a Business Around Them.
Editor's Choice
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.
The write-down is the accounting cost of a sale this publication reported last week.
Latest News
Everything we have published, newest firstEQT 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.
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.
Omnicom's Organic Growth Reached 7.2 Per Cent in Its Third Quarter With Interpublic. It Has Spent $3.2 Billion on Buybacks This Year, $857 Million More Than Its Free Cash Flow.
The growth rate has risen in each quarter of 2026. The cash to buy back stock came partly from borrowing, and the measure that looks worst, net debt to earnings, flatters neither side of the argument.
The Pentagon Is Lending Border Officials One Heat-Ray Weapon for Seven Months. In Two Decades It Has Never Been Used in Combat.
The loan commits DHS to nothing yet. What it does is move a weapon the military never found a use for to an agency whose own officials have considered it and set it aside before.
Money
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.
LKQ, the auto-parts distributor, said on 23 October that Justin Jude has left as chief executive and that Salvatore Abbate, former head of Veritiv, will succeed him on 15 December. It withdrew its 2026 guidance and said preliminary third-quarter adjusted earnings fell to $0.47 to $0.53 a share from $0.84, with Europe's margin roughly halved. Full results are due on 29 October.
Forecasts for artificial general intelligence keep moving, in both directions, by years at a time.
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.
American Express said on 23 October that third-quarter revenue rose 9 per cent to $20.1 billion and earnings per share rose 31 per cent to $5.42, or 13 per cent to $4.68 excluding a travel-stake gain and a restructuring charge. It raised its full-year earnings forecast to $18.30 to $18.60 a share. Net card fees rose 16 per cent, faster than spending.
What We’re Following
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IBM's Software Revenue Grew 8 Per Cent While Consulting Was Flat. GAAP Earnings Rose 26 Per Cent, Against a Year-Earlier Quarter Cut by a $309 Million Tax Charge.
Texas Instruments' Revenue Rose 28 Per Cent and Its Guide Is Flat at the Midpoint. Federal Chip Grants Supplied $1.1 Billion of Its $8.4 Billion Free Cash Flow.
Tesla Spent $4.73 Billion on Capital Projects Against a Forecast of $7.94 Billion. It Has Cut This Year's Budget to $20 Billion From More Than $25 Billion.
Housing Starts Fell 5.2 Per Cent to 1.221 Million, Inside the Census Margin of Error. Signed Contracts Fell 7.3 Per Cent, and in Every Region.
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.
Procter & Gamble said on 22 October that first-quarter organic sales rose 4.0 per cent, with volume up 2.4 per cent and pricing up only 0.4 per cent. It kept its full-year guidance but expects a $1.4 billion after-tax commodity headwind, assuming Brent crude at $100 a barrel, and says most of it has not yet reached its accounts.
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.
Fares rose almost as fast as fuel, and the airline still made money from flying. What it could not cover was the interest on about $30 billion of net debt, and the fourth quarter's fuel price is higher again.
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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)
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.
The Pentagon Wants Its Major Bases Able to Run 90 Days on Their Own. Britain Is Asking Households to Manage for Three.
Daniel Okafor
Markets desk (house byline)
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.
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.
The Euro Area Grew 0.4 Per Cent Last Quarter, About 1.6 Per Cent at an Annual Rate. France Shrank, and Its Jobless Rate Rose to 8.5 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 Closure28 stories
- 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.
- 28 Sept The 30-Year Treasury Closed at Its Highest Since the Bond Came Back in 2006. Households Had Already Marked Up Their Inflation Forecast.
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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