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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.
Boeing Delivered 161 Airliners Last Quarter and Lost About $4.3 Million on Each. Its 6,300-Jet Backlog Would Take About a Decade to Build at This Year's Pace.
UPS 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
The Big Read
The NumbersThe 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.
The statement changed one word about the economy, from "solid" to "strong," and dropped its line about the last hike. The bond market read the meeting as a pause, not an end.
Kevin Warsh at the White House at his swearing-in as Federal Reserve chair in May 2026. File photograph.
The Federal Reserve kept its benchmark interest rate at 3.75 to 4 per cent on Wednesday, but two of the 12 voters wanted to raise it by a quarter point, the Fed said in its policy statement. The vote was 10-2.
The dissenters were Lisa Cook, a governor, and Beth Hammack, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland. Six weeks ago the committee raised rates unanimously. On Thursday morning, the government's own data gave the two of them more to point to.
It held. The Federal Open Market Committee, the 12 officials who set U.S. interest rates, left the target range for the federal funds rate, the rate banks charge each other overnight, where it put it in September. The Fed kept the rate it pays on bank reserves at 3.90 per cent and its standing repo rate at 4 per cent, according to its implementation note.
Markets
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.
Power generation for data centres is filling the order book years ahead.
Business
The Cheesecake Factory Served 9.5 Per Cent More Guests Last Quarter. At Chipotle, Transactions Rose 0.8 Per Cent.
A sit-down chain whose restaurants average $13.9 million of annual sales is outgrowing the fast-casual leader on the measure that matters most: how many people come through the door.
Weather
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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
Business
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 smaller total loss came with a larger loss on each vehicle.
Weil Gotshal Brought In About $2.1 Billion Last Year. Its Leaders Now Recommend Closing the 95-Year-Old Firm.
The firm that built the modern big-law bankruptcy practice is planning its own exit.
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 company sold cabins for life at sea from $119,999.
The Pentagon Wants Its Major Bases Able to Run 90 Days on Their Own. Britain Is Asking Households to Manage for Three.
Officials describe a hedge against a major war that cuts bases off from the grid and from global supply chains.
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Northrop Grumman's Backlog Hit a Record $109.6 Billion. Its Cash Forecast Needs at Least $2.1 Billion in the Fourth Quarter, Less Than Last Year's $3.2 Billion.
Technology
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.
Markets
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.
Technology
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.
Money
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.
Editor's Choice
3M Gave Amazon a Warrant for 3.16 Million Shares at $164.89. Most of It Vests Only After Amazon Pays 3M $6 Billion for Data Center Gear.
The $6 billion is the spending that earns Amazon its option, not an order.
Latest News
Everything we have published, newest firstAI Researchers Moved Their Date for Human-Level Machines 13 Years in One Survey. Nova Reach Founder Rishabh Singh Has Stopped Picking a Year.
AI researchers, forecasting platforms and lab chiefs have put dates on artificial general intelligence ranging from 2026 to the 2040s, and the estimates keep moving. Rishabh Singh, founder of Nova Reach and Nova Infinity and co-founder and CTO of JoinMeIn, argues in a September essay that the most useful answer to the AGI question is not a date but a way to build.
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.
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.
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.
The world's largest household-goods maker has not yet passed higher oil costs on to shoppers. Its chief financial officer says the industry "generally is pricing up," and that the consumer has held up so far.
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.
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.
Two Argentine courts have held that the United States is immune from a damages suit filed in 2016 by Juan Carlos Ruffier over his 2005 arrest in Paraguay and nearly nine years apart from his son. His lawyers have asked Argentina's Supreme Court to hear the case, arguing that alleged FBI surveillance and paperwork on Argentine soil fall within the law's exceptions. The appeal is still pending before the appeals court.
Comcast Lost 144,000 Broadband Customers in a Quarter and Has Stopped Buying Back Its Shares. Its Parks Profit Fell 17 Per Cent.
Comcast said on 22 October that it lost 144,000 domestic broadband customers in the third quarter, against 91,000 a year earlier, while Peacock made $261 million and theme-park earnings fell 17.1 per cent. Share repurchases are paused until the separation of NBCUniversal and Sky, which Comcast expects to complete by the middle of 2027.
Revenue rose 26 per cent and the company calls the core business strong.
Business
The Richest Fifth of U.S. Households Spends $1,861 a Year on Its Pets. Cinnante Canine Is Building a Business Around Them.
Americans spent $158 billion on pets in 2025, according to the American Pet Products Association, and services were the fastest-growing category. Cinnante Canine, a Los Angeles-area training company led by Joseph Cinnante, who has trained and supplied dogs for military and police K9 units, is building its business around owners at the top of that market, from founder-led board-and-train programs to full-service care for very high-net-worth clients.
What We’re Following
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SpaceX Earned $4.4 Billion in the Third Quarter, $1.6 Billion of It Outside Operations. Musk Says SpaceX and Tesla Have Each Formed a Merger Committee.
EQT Agreed to Buy Cleanaway for A$3.095 a Share, a A$9.3 Billion Deal. Three Days Earlier, the Stock Fell 7.6 Per Cent and the ASX Asked Why.
Tradeweb Will Pay $1.97 Billion for Trumid, and $220 Million of That Is for Tax Assets. It Has Not Said What Trumid Earns.
Salesforce Will Pay $47.50 a Share in Cash for Braze, an Enterprise Value of About $5.66 Billion. It Has Agreed to a $300 Million Reverse Termination Fee.
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.
Union Pacific said on Thursday 22 October that third-quarter operating revenue rose 15 per cent to $7.2 billion, while freight revenue excluding fuel surcharges rose 6 per cent. CSX reported record revenue of $4.02 billion on Wednesday, up 12 per cent, with fuel surcharge revenue of $466 million against $234 million a year earlier. Both railroads paid more than $4.20 a gallon for locomotive fuel.
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. The rest of the quarter was a record for internet customer additions, paid for in part by a capital budget that is now shrinking.
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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)
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.
The Pentagon Is Lending Border Officials One Heat-Ray Weapon for Seven Months. In Two Decades It Has Never Been Used in Combat.
Daniel Okafor
Markets desk (house byline)
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 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.
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.
Margaret Holloway
Leadership desk (house byline)
The Cheesecake Factory Served 9.5 Per Cent More Guests Last Quarter. At Chipotle, Transactions Rose 0.8 Per Cent.
Weil Gotshal Brought In About $2.1 Billion Last Year. Its Leaders Now Recommend Closing the 95-Year-Old Firm.
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.
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