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JPMorgan Chase has reported financing $230bn in projects during the first year of its $1.5tn Security and Resiliency Initiative, aimed at strengthening U.S. supply chains, national security, and economic resilience. The program supports defense contractors, energy suppliers, and industrial manufacturers through direct investments, lending, and capital markets transactions, including financing associated with the $125bn Dominion Energy–NextEra merger. Chief executive Jamie Dimon has emphasized the bank's willingness to support earlier-stage companies beyond its traditional lending activities and expects total financing to exceed the original $1.5tn commitment. JPMorgan has also announced a partnership with Michigan and Ford Motor to deploy more than $2bn toward developing manufacturing businesses and addressing supply chain vulnerabilities.

 

Wall Street Journal

Saudi Arabia has postponed until next year the Future Investment Initiative, the kingdom's big investor conference that was originally scheduled to take place in Riyadh from Oct. 26 to Oct. 29. The decision comes after Houthi militants attacked the international airport in the Saudi capital, leaving at least 12 people dead and hundreds injured. Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund launched the so-called 'Davos in the desert' in 2017. The conference has played a key role in the kingdom's plans to diversify its oil-dependent economy. Expected speakers for this year's event included Goldman Sachs CEO ​and Chairman David Solomon, Standard Chartered CEO Bill Winters and Citi's CEO Jane Fraser.

 

CNBC

Reuters

Wall Street Journal

The boards of SpaceX and Tesla are exploring a multi-trillion-dollar merger. Tesla is valued at roughly $1.5trn and SpaceX at $2trn, meaning that a combination of the two companies would be the largest merger ever. Elon Musk said combining his two public companies had “a lot of merit.” He said the boards of both companies had formed special committees of independent directors to consider the idea of a combination. Tesla shares rose around 1.5% in after-hours trading, while SpaceX gained 5% after reporting earnings that beat estimates.

 

Bloomberg

BBC News

The Wall Street Journal's Lindsay Ellis reports on the deep freeze that has paralyzed the U.S. labor market in recent years. She profiles 30-year-old Salt Lake City native Jack Weis, who has been living in his parents’ basement while looking for work in what economists refer to as a low-hire, low-fire environment. He has applied to more than 2,300 jobs since he graduated from Princeton in 2024 with his Ph.D. in chemical engineering. Weis and many other job candidates who have spoken with the author have described interviews that happened in the absence of humans: applicants recorded themselves responding to questions posed digitally on a call. In a survey, more than 60% of U.S. job seekers said they had been interviewed by such technology in the last year.

 

Wall Street Journal

Food Lion has restored its website, mobile app, and online ordering services following a weeklong disruption caused by a cybersecurity incident at parent company Ahold Delhaize USA. Stores, pharmacies, and fuel stations remained operational throughout the outage. The company said its investigation is ongoing, with no evidence so far that sensitive customer, employee, or partner data was compromised. To thank customers for their patience, Food Lion has introduced promotional discounts through Instacart and DoorDash, $10 off $50 purchases for MVP loyalty members, and free pickup and delivery on qualifying orders through the end of October.

 

The Shelby Report

Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan has said rulings by the court had created a "race to the bottom" in redistricting, campaign finance decisions had created opportunities for corruption, and the court's Voting Rights Act decision had undercut racial equality at the ballot box. Speaking at Catholic University’s Columbus School of Law, Kagan said: “Both political parties have been engaged in a race to the bottom in terms of doing these partisan gerrymanders, effectively depriving masses of citizens of their right to voting equality, driving people away from the center towards the wings, towards the extremes.” She said the phenomenon was “very destructive of our democracy.” 

 

NBC News

New York Times

Bloomberg

Il Fornaio, a California-based Italian restaurant chain, has agreed to pay $3m to settle a lawsuit from the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) over allegations of sexual harassment affecting at least 100 female employees, many of whom were teenagers. The lawsuit had said that the company fostered a sexually hostile work environment, with reports of groping and retaliation against those who complained. "Sexual harassment continues to be a widespread issue in the restaurant industry," said Beatriz B. Andre, acting regional attorney for the EEOC's Los Angeles District. The settlement includes three years of workplace reforms, including reinstating a dedicated human resources function (the company had eliminated its Human Resources Department), and hiring an external monitor to ensure compliance with Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. Il Fornaio denied wrongdoing, saying that the settlement is not an admission of liability but a means to avoid the costs of litigation.

 

Los Angeles Times

California is to receive a $6m settlement payment in DNA testing kit company 23andMe’s bankruptcy, resolving the state's legal claims related to a 2023 data breach that exposed 6.9 million customers’ ⁠genetic and other ⁠personal information. “23andMe collected genetic data about millions of people and failed to meet its obligation to keep that information safe. Companies cannot evade California’s consumer protection and privacy laws by filing for bankruptcy,” said California's attorney general Rob Bonta.

 

Reuters

The Guardian

Apple is facing a further damages claim from Taction Technology following a record $5.7bn U.S. patent infringement verdict relating to haptic feedback technology in iPhones and Apple Watches. Taction has requested additional damages covering six months of sales, alongside prejudgment interest at 7%, potentially adding hundreds of millions of dollars to the award. Apple has denied wrongdoing and is seeking to overturn the verdict.

 

Reuters

The ​Commodity ‌Futures Trading Commission ​has ⁠secured court ​orders ​requiring a former New York ​resident ​and his firm ‌to ⁠pay more than $288m ​for ​operating ⁠a commodity ​pool ​Ponzi ⁠scheme, Reuters reports.

 

Reuters

U.S. corporate income tax revenue has fallen roughly 15% to $381bn in the latest fiscal year under President Donald Trump, even as corporate profits reached record highs. The decline reflected congressional Republican tax breaks allowing businesses to write off investment costs more quickly. Accelerated deductions reduced taxable income and federal receipts, delivering larger near-term tax benefits despite surging profitability. 

 

New York Times

Reuters reports on the many jobless Chinese who are hiding their ‌employment status from family and relatives. The Instagram-like RedNote app, X-like Weibo and Douyin, China's TikTok analog, are host to much-viewed posts advising unemployed people on where to spend the day, how to avoid relatives' questions about ​work, and chronicling the experiences of these phantom-employees. Diana Fu, an associate professor of Chinese politics at Cornell University, says pretend-work potentially defuses collective discontent. "Pretend-workers are helping the ​Chinese government to stave off the hard choice between leaping ahead in automation and protecting job security, which is so essential to the social contract," she said.

 

Reuters