☕️ Paramount seals its $110B Warner deal

Hi there, this is your daily ☕️ Finpresso.

In today's newsletter:

🎬 Paramount closes $110B Warner Bros merger

🛢️ Brent tops $100 on claimed Aramco strike

📉 US trade deficit surges to $105.6B

⚡ AMD plans big AI chip supply boost in 2027

🚀 SpaceX seeks $40B to buy Nvidia chips

Plus: 🌍 11 macro stories, 🏢 11 corporate stories, and 📑 6 research & reports.

📊 Before The Bell

• Paramount has completed its $110 billion takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery, forming a combined entertainment company called Skydance that ranks among the largest mergers ever struck.
• The tie-up merges the Paramount+ and HBO Max streaming services and networks including CBS, CNN and MTV, and hands Skydance franchises such as "Game of Thrones" and the DC Universe, with projected annual revenue of nearly $70 billion.
• Skydance Class B shares begin trading on the New York Stock Exchange today under the ticker "SKYD," after settlements with a coalition of U.S. states and a Hollywood writers' union cleared the main legal hurdles.

• Brent crude pushed above $100 a barrel after Iran-aligned Houthi rebels claimed a missile and drone strike on a Saudi Aramco facility in Riyadh over the weekend, reigniting fears over Middle East oil supply.
• Yemen's internationally recognized government on Sunday launched operations to retake Houthi-held territory, including much of the western coast along the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, the chokepoint linking the Red Sea and Suez Canal to Asia-bound shipping routes.
• The escalation threatens Saudi exports just as the Yanbu Red Sea port resumed crude loadings; with Houthis barring Saudi-linked vessels, cargoes rerouting around Africa's Cape of Good Hope could add roughly a month to delivery times for Saudi crude in Asia.

• The U.S. trade deficit widened to $105.6 billion in August, the largest monthly gap since March 2025, as imports outpaced exports and the figure overshot the $102 billion consensus estimate.
• The gap grew 13.7% from July, driven by a jump in goods imports, with industrial supplies led by crude oil and gold and semiconductor-heavy capital goods accounting for most of the increase.
• Despite the monthly spike, the cumulative deficit through August was down about 20%, or $138.2 billion, from a year earlier, though Oxford Economics expects AI-linked high-tech equipment imports to keep import growth strong into 2027.

• AMD will "substantially increase" its supply of AI chips in 2027, CEO Lisa Su told reporters in Taipei, after already ramping output through 2026 to chase what she called very high demand.
• Su said AMD needs more advanced wafer capacity to keep up and is now planning three to five years ahead, though she declined to confirm whether manufacturing partner TSMC discussed a potential investment in Texas.
• The commentary points to sustained AI-chip demand "for the next several years," the window investors watch as AMD competes for a bigger slice of a market still dominated by Nvidia.

• SpaceX is seeking to raise $40bn in a financing led by Apollo Global Management to fund a large order of Nvidia chips, deepening Elon Musk's bet on the chipmaker for his AI ambitions.
• The package would split into about $10bn in bank loans and $30bn in investment-grade debt, with Pimco among lenders in talks; the BBB rating lets insurers and pension funds buy in, and the deal is expected to close in 2027.
• Investor caution lingers: SpaceX's $25bn bond sale after its June IPO sold off over debt and spending worries, with its 2056 bonds now near 85 cents on the dollar and yielding close to junk levels.

🌍 Macro News

• IMF chief says AI, energy costs and debt threaten weak growth. LINK
• Fed will move bank supervision from regional presidents to Washington officials. LINK
• EU weighs broad corporate tax to raise revenue from US tech giants. LINK
• UK selects six banks to lead first digital government bond sale. LINK
• EIA raises oil forecasts as inventories shrink and Iran risks threaten supplies. LINK
• Euro hits 17-month low as France's fiscal woes unsettle bond markets. LINK
• ECB warns digital euro is needed to prevent Europe's payments fragmentation. LINK
• Fed's Daly says AI demand, tariffs and energy costs may prolong inflation. LINK
• Africa's first homegrown credit rating agency launches in Mauritius. LINK
• Treasury yields rise ahead of key auction and Fed minutes. LINK
• S&P 500 closes above 7,800 for first time, setting records. LINK

🏢 Corporate News

• Lambda seeks up to $4 billion at $14.5 billion valuation before IPO. LINK
• Uber will buy ezCater for $2.3 billion, expanding Uber Eats services. LINK
• Micron will pay Netlist $600 million to settle memory-chip patent dispute. LINK
• HubSpot cuts 660 jobs as it restructures around AI-driven customer outcomes. LINK
• Marvell shares jump after raising fiscal 2028 revenue forecast to $20 billion. LINK
• OKX extends funding round at $25 billion valuation. LINK
• FICO owner Fair Isaac cuts 570 jobs in AI-focused restructuring. LINK
• Intel says it remains involved in Musk's Terafab despite TSMC talks. LINK
• Capitolis raises $220 million at $1.9 billion valuation. LINK
• Anchorage Digital buys Routable to link crypto services with traditional payouts. LINK
• McKesson and CD&R negotiate buying Option Care Health for over $5 billion. LINK

📈 Stocks

📑 Research & Reports

• 6 free Claude skills for finance teams: cover close, forecasting and reporting work, ready to drop in. From Aleph. Get the 6 skill files for free
• JPMorgan retains title as world's most AI-capable bank. LINK
• Flash-loan attacks drained $1.2 billion from DeFi platforms across 72 incidents. LINK
• Five trading days generated more than half of Bitcoin's three-year gains. LINK
• Euro-area banks eased financing and derivatives terms for a fourth quarter. LINK
• Global supply-chain pressures reached a four-month high in September. LINK
• Wall Street firms are on track for record 2026 trading profits. LINK

📅 Market Calendar

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