Hi there, this is your daily ☕️ Finpresso.
In today's newsletter:
🚗 Penske Automotive to go private in $16.3B deal
📉 CoreWeave selloff rattles the AI boom
📈 Wholesale prices jump 1.3% reviving Fed hike bets
💹 Ripple opens Wall Street to 24/7 asset swaps
🔒 Proofpoint's Varonis deal targets AI security risks
Plus: 🌍 11 macro stories, 🏢 10 corporate stories, and 📑 5 research & reports.
| 🚗 Penske Automotive to go private in $16.3B deal freightwaves.com |
- Penske Automotive, the auto-retail group listed in New York, agreed to be taken private in a roughly $16.3 billion deal by two existing owners, Penske Corp. and Japan's Mitsui, the company said yesterday.
- The buyers are purchasing the roughly 27.8% of the company they don't already own at $212 per share, up from the $210 floated when the offer surfaced in July, a price Penske called about 20% above its 60-day average.
- Once completed, privately held Penske Corp. will own 64% and Mitsui the rest; the group booked about $27.5 billion in 2025 revenue from its car dealerships, its largest business.
| 📉 CoreWeave selloff rattles the AI boom CNBC |
- A selloff in AI and chip stocks wiped more than $1 trillion off the 20 most valuable names this week, triggered by credit stress at CoreWeave, worries over corporate AI spending and a hot US inflation report.
- CoreWeave sits at the center: the yield on its 2031 bond climbed to 15.78%, while the cost to insure its debt against default briefly topped 1,140 basis points, a level S&P's Gavan Nolan calls a sign of credit distress.
- The rotation hit chip leaders across the board, with Dell down 6.8% and Nvidia, AMD and Intel all falling less sharply, as rising rates, AI financing fears and fiercer competition soured sentiment.
| 📈 Wholesale prices jump 1.3% reviving Fed hike bets CNBC |
- Wholesale prices jumped 1.3% in September and 6.3% over the year, their biggest gains since 2022, driven largely by an energy-supply crunch from the U.S.-Iran conflict that is reviving bets on a Federal Reserve rate hike.
- Both numbers blew past forecasts of 0.6% monthly and 5.5% annually, and the pain is spreading: the government said nearly half of September's rise in processed goods for immediate demand traced back to higher diesel fuel prices.
- Futures traders now see a roughly 34% chance the Fed raises rates on Oct. 28, nearly double the odds priced a week earlier, with the vast majority expecting at least one hike by year-end, as consumers also cut spending outside fuel and autos.
| 💹 Ripple opens Wall Street to 24/7 asset swaps Cryptopolitan |
- Ripple has opened round-the-clock trading of real-world asset perpetual swaps to institutions through its Ripple Prime unit, letting them hold positions tied to stocks, indices, ETFs, metals, energy and currencies even when the underlying exchanges are shut.
- The swaps track perpetual futures that Trade.xyz lists on decentralized venue Hyperliquid, covering over 100 markets, with Ripple Prime acting as principal on every trade so clients get a single counterparty and never connect to Hyperliquid directly.
- Clients can post Ripple's RLUSD stablecoin as collateral and net offsetting positions across asset classes to cut the margin they must post, though the product currently runs only under Ripple Prime's BVI license, with other regions planned but no timeline.
| 🔒 Proofpoint's Varonis deal targets AI security risks PYMNTS |
- Proofpoint has agreed to buy Varonis Systems for $6.3 billion, a deal it frames as a way to guard companies against security risks emerging as AI agents gain access to sensitive corporate data.
- The all-in combination pairs Proofpoint's email and identity defenses, backed by private-equity owner Thoma Bravo, with Varonis's data-security tools, aiming to track who, and which AI systems, can reach a company's most sensitive files.
- The merged firm would serve 16,000 enterprises, with the deal expected to close in the first half of 2027 subject to customary approvals; the two will run separately until then, and it marks Proofpoint's third acquisition in 18 months.
Macro News
- Warsh says AI can boost productivity and wealth, but transition remains bumpy. CNBC
- IEA members will release over 20 million diesel barrels to cool prices. CNBC
- A Singapore-registered ship sank in Hormuz after a projectile strike sparked fire. CNBC
- AI investment and Iran's energy shock are reshaping business decisions, Fed says. Axios
- G7 finance officials will simulate AI cyberattacks on the financial system. Reuters
- Bessent urges World Bank to finance upstream oil and gas projects. oilprice.com
- Sweden's Riksbank urges lawmakers to prepare digital krona legislation. Cointelegraph
- Britain's FCA plans AI-driven supervision and enforcement without AI-specific rules. Cryptopolitan
- Oil prices fell as Trump weighs easing sanctions on shadow-fleet tankers. oilprice.com
- Bailey says energy costs have limited UK inflation spillover, but risks remain. The Economic Times
- Indonesia stocks plunged after MSCI dropped the country from emerging-market classification. The Economic Times
Corporate News
- Anthropic's expected IPO valuation fell to $1.5 trillion as growth cooled. The Economic Times
- Apple closed above $5 trillion for the first time as investors sought safety. Yahoo Finance
- Anduril's employee share sale values the company at $90 billion, up 48%. techfundingnews.com
- ByteDance is in talks to buy MediaTek AI chips amid Nvidia export curbs. Cryptopolitan
- Berkshire invested another $330 million in Bending Spoons, raising its stake to 4%. Tech Startups
- Venture Global plans to supply up to 10 gigawatts for data centers. financialpost.com
- Ericsson shares jumped after quarterly results beat Wall Street expectations. Yahoo Finance
- CNN and Google will test generative AI to boost audience engagement. Reuters
- Rocket Lab delayed Neutron's debut launch to 2027, sending shares lower. Yahoo Finance
- Mastercard launched a platform linking stablecoins with conventional banking and card payments. Cointelegraph
Stocks
| ▲ Biggest winners |
| Ericsson rose 12% after Q3 adjusted operating profit beat estimates and guidance raised. Yahoo Finance |
| TransUnion rose 11% after beating third-quarter earnings estimates and raising full-year guidance. Yahoo Finance |
| IonQ rose 9% after IonQ and University of Cambridge opened first university-based IonQ Quantum Innovation Centre with Superion 256-qubit computer. Yahoo Finance |
| ▼ Biggest losers |
| Hewlett Packard Enterprise Comp fell 7% after Barclays downgraded HPE to Equalweight with a $77 price target. Yahoo Finance |
Research & Reports
- Humanoid robot demand for DRAM could rise roughly 20-fold by 2030. zerohedge.com
- U.S. companies captured worker productivity gains through wider margins, not higher wages. libertystreeteconomics.newyorkfed.org
- Crypto market value rose 39.6% in the third quarter as trading volume fell. cryptoslate.com
- Microsoft leads enterprise AI orchestration, a Morgan Stanley survey of IT chiefs suggests. thestreet.com
- JPMorgan expects the AI stock rebound to be slower and weaker than July's. Quartz