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Last updated: October 29, 2026, 11:10 PM ET
Legal & Corporate Governance
A St. Louis jury rejected claims bloomberg.com by three women who blamed Bayer AG's Roundup herbicide for their cancers, a verdict that strengthens the company's push to settle thousands of similar lawsuits. In Australia, a court upheld the murder conviction nytimes.com of Erin Patterson, rejecting her appeal and keeping parole off the table.
The collapse of the Wall Street law firm Weil Gotshal, which moved to wind down ft.com after merger talks failed, drew wide attention; the Financial Times framed it as a Lehman moment ft.com for the sector, while the Wall Street Journal traced the five whirlwind days wsj.com that led to the firm's demise. Paul Weiss, meanwhile, will stop publishing ft.com its financial disclosures, following Kirkland & Ellis.
Mergers & Deals
Josh Kushner's Thrive Holdings agreed to buy ADT for $7.6 billion wsj.com, paying $10 a share in cash, a 35% premium. Door Dash agreed to buy Instacart ft.com in a $17 billion deal that gives the combined company roughly Walmart's share of US online grocery. PAG will acquire a majority stake bloomberg.com in Evergrande's property services unit for $514 million. Monte dei Paschi shareholders voted down ft.com defensive acquisitions meant to fend off Intesa's €35bn takeover, and Dine Brands adopted a poison pill bloomberg.com to guard Applebee's against a hostile bid.
Equities & Earnings
Intel shares plunged roughly 20% nytimes.com after the chipmaker forecast weaker PC chip sales and falling margins, a result that hit the government-backed turnaround hard. Amazon slid wsj.com on a Wall Street miss even as cloud growth posted its strongest pace in years, and its lower Christmas sales forecast ft.com added to the pressure. Alphabet lost about $500 billion wsj.com in market value after a revenue shortfall, as Google admitted its AI mode had damaged traditional search. Eli Lilly surged ft.com on weight-loss drug demand and lifted its revenue outlook for a second time, while Starbucks resumed buybacks ft.com even as a China shift clouds growth, with US same-store sales up 7.7%. Sandisk's profit soared wsj.com to $8.1 billion on AI-driven memory pricing, and Merck raised wsj.com its full-year forecasts on Keytruda and Winrevair growth.
Air Canada cut its full-year EBITDA outlook wsj.com to C$2.4 billion to C$2.7 billion as jet fuel costs bite. Haleon dived wsj.com after the Advil maker cut its sales guidance on weaker cold and flu demand. Volkswagen reported ft.com losses that quadrupled in the third quarter, its largest loss in over a decade, and warned it must act quickly nytimes.com to cut costs.
Markets & Macro
US stocks fell wsj.com as Alphabet's slide weighed on AI optimism, and the Nasdaq 100 dropped 1.5% ft.com after Alphabet and Microsoft reported lower-than-hoped returns on spending. Gold steadied near $4,000 bloomberg.com an ounce, on track for a second monthly loss, as inflation kept rate-hike bets firm. The Fed held rates steady nytimes.com and signaled a December hike, while the US inflation rate accelerated nytimes.com in the latest PCE reading. US GDP grew 3.4% nytimes.com in the third quarter, the fastest pace in a year. Treasury and European bond yields fell wsj.com after the Fed and ECB held rates. Christine Lagarde will step down nytimes.com as ECB president in February, months before the end of her term.
Crypto & Prediction Markets
Binance founder Changpeng Zhao said user funds were safe even as hackers appeared to have executed the biggest crypto heist on record. Polymarket lost millions wsj.com to hackers, with affected traders promised compensation, and is investigating suspicious trades bloomberg.com on the Israeli election. Kalshi raised $1 billion nytimes.com at a $40 billion valuation. The SEC is scrutinizing bloomberg.com manipulation and insider risks in prediction markets.
Commodities & Energy
Oil rose bloomberg.com on signs the US may resume strikes on Iran, though prices later eased wsj.com on hopes for US-Iran diplomacy. European oil majors lifted buybacks ft.com as the Iran war drove bumper profits, and Shell will launch wsj.com a $5 billion buyback. Europe will release 42 million barrels bloomberg.com of oil reserves to ease prices. Rio Tinto suspended underground operations bloomberg.com at its Oyu Tolgoi copper mine after a rockfall. Vale's iron ore output trailed forecasts bloomberg.com on Serra Norte curbs.
Asia & Emerging Markets
Chinese investors are pulling bloomberg.com out of Hong Kong stocks at the fastest pace in years. The Philippine peso's bonds are the most exposed bloomberg.com in emerging Asia to a hawkish Fed. Kioxia faces a test to impress with earnings after a 60% stock slump. Japan's Topix index overhaul bloomberg.com has kicked off. Hyundai Motor's net profit fell 44% wsj.com, and BYD's exports helped offset ft.com weak China sales.
Coming Up
The Fed's December hike remains nytimes.com on the table after policymakers signaled it. Kioxia reports earnings next, and Venezuela has pledged bloomberg.com to hold elections under an overhauled electoral regulator.
Private Equity
Last updated: October 29, 2026, 11:10 PM ET
Mega-Deals & Take-Privates
Thrive Holdings techcrunch.com, the OpenAI-backed vehicle, is buying ADT in a $15.3 billion deal. The all-cash take-private, with Apollo writing the cheque, values the US home security provider at a substantial premium. Separately, Blackstone Strategic Partners peinsights.substack.com acquired part of a $1.3bn portfolio of private co-investments at a roughly 20% discount, underscoring continued secondary-market appetite for discounted exposure. I Squared Capital peinsights.substack.com agreed to buy Kansas City-based aerostructures maker Orizon, extending its industrial portfolio.
Exits & Portfolio Sales
Carlyle and the EBRD peinsights.substack.com agreed to sell Black Sea Oil & Gas to former portfolio company Mazarine, a recycling-style exit that keeps the asset within a familiar ownership circle.
Venture Funding & Fundraising
Fractile sifted.eu raised £540m in a new Series C round, according to filings, one of the largest European raises of the period. Norway's Investinor sifted.eu is out raising a fresh LP fund of roughly NOK 200–300m as European policymakers push to close the scaleup funding gap. Dream techcrunch.com, founded by ex-Palantir executives, launched with $17M from a16z to build AI world models for construction. Deeptech startup MuRay sifted.eu raised €7.1m to inspect rocket engines, while Bleu Robotics sifted.eu raised $5m for industrial humanoids that can be deployed after roughly 20 minutes of training.
Stage-Level Dynamics
Crunchbase data shows Series B funding news.crunchbase.com rising in dollar terms, with around $48 billion invested so far this year, yet fewer deals are closing. Meanwhile, jumbo Series A rounds news.crunchbase.com driven by AI megarounds are masking a shrinking Series A market and squeezing seed-stage founders. A fintech that was not actively fundraising nonetheless closed a $90m round sifted.eu at an $800m valuation, a sign that high-quality deals still clear even in a cautious market.
Policy & Talent
Alex Depledge criticized sifted.eu the UK Budget's approach to startups, saying there is "no magic money tree" for founders after her exit from government. On talent, VCs are sharing sifted.eu how to build investment theses for early-stage deals, while founders hiring sifted.eu against warp-speed AI labs face intense competition for people. Questions also persist over whether Europe's fastest-growing startups sifted.eu are hiring the right profiles.
Coming Up
The TechCrunch Founder Summit techcrunch.com takes place on November 4, featuring founders and investors on its stages.
Sector Investment
Last updated: October 29, 2026, 4:10 PM ET
Real Estate Investment
Brookfield has hired the former KKR team perenews.com behind KKR-backed Strategic Lease Partners to lead its net-lease expansion. Separately, the largest private real estate funds have lost market share perenews.com this quarter, with the top ten funds' share of fundraising declining in Q3.
Infrastructure Investment
Five Point Infrastructure has raised its fund target infrastructureinvestor.com to $4bn after already exceeding its original $2.5bn goal within five months. In Germany, the sale of SEFE's energy assets is drawing investor interest infrastructureinvestor.com as valuation concerns and a thin pipeline weigh on the broader market.
Industry Events
Submissions for the 2026 awards infrastructureinvestor.com are now open, and firms have a deadline to put forward their achievements from the year.
Coming Up
Firms have until the submission deadline to enter the 2026 awards infrastructureinvestor.com.