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Stocks mixed as Nvidia dips after SoftBank stake sale

Summary

  • slips 0.2% as trading remains mixed Tuesday.
  • Dow rises 396 points; drops 0.5%.
  • shares fall after sells its full stake.
  • European markets gain; U.S. bond market closed for Veterans Day.

NEW YORK (AP) — Most of Wall Street is rising on Tuesday, but another return toward Earth for Nvidia is keeping the U.S. in check.

The S&P 500 was mostly unchanged in afternoon trading, despite gains for the majority of stocks within the index. It’s a slowdown for the market, coming off Monday’s vigorous rebound following its first losing week in four.

The Industrial Average was up 396 points, or 0.8%, as of 12:45 p.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.5% lower. All three are still near their all-time highs but have been shaky recently.

Much of the focus was on Nvidia and other winners of the artificial-intelligence frenzy, as usual. Their sensational growth has been one of the top reasons the U.S. stock market has hit records despite a slowing job market and still-high . But their prices have shot so high that critics say they look too expensive and are reminiscent of the 2000 dot-com bubble that ultimately burst and nearly halved the S&P 500.

Nvidia sank 3.2% after SoftBank, a Japanese technology giant that had been a major investor, said it had sold its entire stake last month for $5.83 billion. SoftBank is not giving up on AI. It’s still focusing on , the maker of ChatGPT.

Because Nvidia is so large, worth close to $5 trillion, it was the heaviest weight on the S&P 500 Tuesday.

Nvidia oftentimes can dictate the movement of index funds that track the S&P 500, which sit at the heart of many 401(k) accounts. A day earlier, Nvidia’s rally of nearly 6% was the biggest reason the S&P 500 erased nearly all its loss from last week.

CoreWeave, whose cloud platform helps customers running AI workloads, fell 13.8% Tuesday even though it reported a smaller loss for the latest quarter than analysts expected. Its revenue also topped expectations, and financial analysts praised its momentum. But investors seemed to focus instead on supply-chain issues delaying a data center and pushing some of CoreWeave’s revenue further into the future.

On the winning side of Wall Street, BigBear.ai jumped 6.9% after reporting better results for the latest quarter than analysts expected. It also said it would buy AskSage, a generative AI platform built for national-security agencies and other highly regulated areas, for $250 million.

Outside of AI, Paramount Skydance climbed 9.9%, even as the entertainment giant fell short of Wall Street’s revenue and profit targets. It was the company’s first earnings report since Skydance closed its acquisition of Paramount in early August, and investors were apparently encouraged that it raised its 2026 cost-cutting goal to $3 billion from the previous $2 billion.

In stock markets abroad, indexes rose in Europe following a mixed finish in Asia.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 slipped 0.1% even though SoftBank climbed 2%. Besides the sale of its Nvidia stake, the tech giant also reported a much bigger profit than analysts expected.

In the U.S. bond market, trading is closed for the Veterans Day holiday.

Yields have been generally rising since Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell warned last month that further cuts to interest rates are not assured. The Fed has already cut its main interest rate twice this year in hopes of shoring up the slowing job market. But it’s worried that inflation, which has stubbornly remained above the Fed’s 2% target, could reaccelerate.

What’s potentially making the Fed’s job more difficult is that the U.S. government’s shutdown has delayed important updates on jobs and other areas of the economy. The  has made moves to end what’s become the longest-ever shutdown, but it’s not assured.

That has left the Fed and investors looking at reports coming from sources outside of the government, which have offered a mixed picture.

A job tracker at Goldman Sachs suggests growth slowed in October from September. After including the effect of a deferred resignation program at the government, U.S. employers overall may have cut 50,000 jobs in October, according to economist David Mericle.

Such softening in the job market has traders betting on a roughly two-in-three chance that the Fed will cut interest rates at its next meeting in December, according to data from CME Group. Expectations for such cuts, which Wall Street loves because they can goose the economy and investment prices, are another reason stocks have hit records recently.

UPDATES: trading.

Wendy’s to close hundreds of U.S. restaurants to cut costs

Summary

  • to close about 5% of its 6,000 U.S. locations.
  • Move aims to raise profits and update outdated restaurants.
  • Same-store sales fell 4% and revenue dropped 2% this year.
  • CEO says closures will help strengthen the brand.

Wendy’s plans to close hundreds U.S. restaurants over the next few months in an effort to boost its profit and make its remaining stores more appealing.

The Dublin, Ohio-based chain said during a conference call with investors Friday that it planned to begin closing restaurants in the fourth quarter of this year. The company said it expected a “mid-single-digit percentage” of its U.S. stores to be affected, but it didn’t give any more details.

Wendy’s ended the third quarter with 6,011 U.S. restaurants. If 5% of those locations were impacted, it would mean 300 store closures.

The new round of closures comes on top of the closure of 240 U.S. Wendy’s locations in 2024. At the time, Wendy’s said that many of the 55-year-old chain’s restaurants are simply out of date.

Ken Cook, Wendy’s interim CEO, said Friday the company believes closing locations that are underperforming – whether it’s from a financial or customer service perspective – will help improve traffic and profitability at its remaining U.S. restaurants.

Cook became Wendy’s CEO in July after the company’s previous CEO, Kirk Tanner, left to become the president and CEO of Hershey Co.

“When we look at the system today, we have some restaurants that do not elevate the brand and are a drag from a franchisee financial performance perspective. The goal is to address and fix those restaurants,” Cook said during a conference call with investors.

Cook said in some cases, Wendy’s will make improvements to struggling stores, including adding technology or equipment. In other cases, it will transfer ownership to a different operator or close the restaurant altogether.

U.S. chains have been struggling to attract lower-income consumers in the past few years as has raised prices. Cook said he expects lower-income consumers to remain pressured for the rest of this year.

In the first nine months of this year, Wendy’s said its U.S. same-store sales, or sales at locations open at least a year, fell 4% compared to the same period last year. Wendy’s revenue fell 2% to $1.63 billion in the same period, while its net income fell 6% to $138.6 million.

Cook said $5 and $8 meal deals — which have been matched by McDonald’s — have helped bring some traffic back to its U.S. stores. But Wendy’s isn’t doing a good job of bringing in new customers, Cook said, so the company plans to shift its marketing to emphasize its value and the freshness of its ingredients.

Wendy’s shares dropped 7% Friday. On Monday, they were down 5% in afternoon trading.

G7 meets in Canada amid U.S. tensions over trade, defense

Summary

  • ministers meet in Ontario as tensions grow with the U.S.
  • Trump’s trade demands and defense goals divide allies.
  • hosts 15 foreign ministers, including Ukraine’s.
  • Talks to focus on , and minerals.

TORONTO (AP) — Top diplomats from the Group of Seven industrialized democracies are converging on southern Ontario as tensions rise between the U.S. and traditional allies like Canada over , trade and uncertainty over President ‘s ceasefire plan in Gaza and efforts to end the Russia-Ukraine war.

Canadian Foreign Minister  said in an interview with The Associated Press that “the relationship has to continue across a range of issues” despite trade pressures as she prepared to host U.S. Secretary of State  and their counterparts from Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Japan on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Anand also invited the foreign ministers of Australia, Brazil, India, Saudi Arabia, Mexico, South Korea, South Africa and Ukraine.

She said “15 foreign ministers are coming from around the world to the Great White North and funnily enough on the week of our first large snowfall.”

“The work that Canada is doing is continuing to lead multilaterally in an era of a greater movement to protectionism and unilateralism,” Anand said. “And in an era of economic and geopolitical volatility.”

Canada’s G7 hosting duties this year have been marked by strained relations with its North American neighbor, predominantly over Trump’s imposition of tariffs on Canadian imports. But the entire bloc of allies is confronting major turbulence over the Republican president’s demands on trade and various proposals to halt worldwide conflicts.

One main point of contention has been defense spending. All G7 members except for Japan are members of NATO, and Trump has demanded that the alliance partners spend 5% of their annual gross domestic product on defense. While a number of countries have agreed, others have not. Among the G7 NATO members, Canada and Italy are furthest from that goal.

There have also been G7 disagreements over the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, with Britain, Canada and France announcing they would recognize a Palestinian state even without a resolution to the conflict. With the Russia-Ukraine war, most G7 members have taken a tougher line on Russia than Trump has.

The two-day meeting in Niagara-on-the-Lake on Lake Ontario near the U.S. border comes after Trump ended trade talks with Canada because the Ontario provincial government ran an anti-tariff advertisement in the U.S. that upset him. That followed a spring of acrimony, since abated, over Trump’s insistence that Canada should become the 51st U.S. state.

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney apologized for the ad and said last week that he’s ready to resume trade talks when the Americans are ready.

“The work that we are doing in the G7 is about finding areas where we can cooperate multilaterally,” Anand said. “This conversation will continue regardless of other efforts that we are making on the trade side.”

Anand said she will have a meeting with Rubio but noted that a different minister leads the U.S. trade file. The U.S. president has placed greater priority on addressing his grievances with other nations’ trade policies than on collaboration with G7 allies.

“Every complex relationship has numerous touch points,” Anand said. “On the trade file, there is continued work to be done — just as there is work to be done on the numerous touch points outside the trade file, and that’s where Secretary Rubio and I come in because the relationship has to continue across a range of issues.”

Anand said Rubio asked her during a breakfast meeting in Washington last month to play a role in bringing countries to the table to ensure that Trump’s Gaza ceasefire plan has longevity.

U.S. officials said Rubio, who also may have meetings with other G7 counterparts and at least one of the invited non-G7 foreign ministers, would be focused on initiatives to halt fighting in Ukraine and Gaza, maritime security, Haiti, Sudan, resiliency and critical minerals.

Canada’s priorities include ending the war in Ukraine, Arctic security and security in Haiti. There will be a working lunch on energy and critical minerals that are needed for anything from smartphones to fighter jets. Canada has 34 critical minerals and metals that the Pentagon is eager for and investing in for national security.

Anand will probably try to use the meeting to improve the working relationship with Rubio, said Daniel Béland, a political science professor at McGill University in Montreal.

“Yet, a key factor shaping that relationship is beyond her control: President Trump’s mercurial behavior,” Béland said.

“The expectations are quite low, but avoiding drama and fostering basic common ground on issues like Ukraine and Russia would be helpful,” Béland said.

SoftBank sells Nvidia stake, profit triples on AI boom

Summary

  • sells its stake for $5.8 billion.
  • First-half profit nearly triples to $13 billion.
  • Shift in focus to and AI ventures like Stargate.
  • Nvidia, now worth $5 trillion, remains a key tech partner.

TOKYO (AP) — Japanese technology giant SoftBank said Tuesday it has sold its stake in Nvidia, raising $5.8 billion to pour into other investments. It also reported its profit nearly tripled in the first half of this fiscal year from a year earlier.

Tokyo-based SoftBank Group Corp. said it sold the stake in Silicon Vally-based Nvidia in October, a move that reflects its shift in focus to OpenAI, owner of the chatbot ChatGPT.

SoftBank reported its profit in April-September soared to about 2.5 trillion yen (about $13 billion). Its sales for the six month period rose 7.7% year-on-year to 3.7 trillion yen ($24 billion), it said.

The company’s fortunes tend to fluctuate because it invests in a range of ventures, including through its tech-focused Vision Funds. Those recently have paid off.

In February, SoftBank’s chairman joined Trump, Sam Altman of OpenAI and Larry Ellison of Oracle in announcing a major investment of up to $500 billion in a project to develop artificial intelligence called Stargate.

SoftBank has invested tens of billions of dollars in OpenAI. The two companies also plan to provide AI services in Japan.

Selling SoftBank’s stake in Nvidia reflects Son’s shift in strategy and also nets his company a healthy profit thanks to the recent runup in Nvidia’s market value.

Nvidia recently become the first $5 trillion company, just three months after it broke through the $4 trillion barrier. It plans a $100 billion investment in OpenAI as part of a partnership that will add at least 10 gigawatts of Nvidia AI data centers to ramp up OpenAI’s computing power.

The chip maker and other winners in the frenzy around artificial-intelligence technology have been driving much of this year’s rally in share prices. Critics say stock prices of the tech giants have soared too high and too fast in the mania around AI, drawing comparisons to the 2000 dot-com bubble that ultimately burst.

SoftBank and Nvidia still have strong relations since various ventures that SoftBank invests in use Nvidia technology.

SoftBank also has investments in Arm Holdings and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., computer chip makers that like Nvidia are benefitting greatly from the growth of AI.

SoftBank stocks have nearly doubled in value in the past year. They gained nearly 2% Tuesday.

Nvidia’s shares fell 1.3% in premarket trading early Tuesday. They jumped 5.8% on Monday.

FAA flight cuts, cargo grounding strain deliveries

Summary

  • orders 10% reduction in flights at 40 major U.S. airports.
  • and ground cargo planes after deadly crash.
  • Analysts warn of delays by one to two days.
  • and supply chains face pressure as shutdown continues.

NEW YORK (AP) — The Federal Aviation Administration’s announcement of a 10% reduction in flight capacity across 40 major U.S. airports could put a strain on air cargo as the peak holiday season approaches.

Several airports with major package distribution centers are on the list of airports that will reduce capacity — FedEx has hubs at the airports in Indianapolis and Memphis, Tennessee. UPS’ biggest hub, Worldport, is in Louisville, Kentucky, the site of this week’s deadly cargo plane crash.

Meanwhile, UPS and FedEx said late Friday they’re grounding their fleets of McDonnell Douglas MD-11 planes “out of an abundance of caution” following the Tuesday crash, which killed 14 people, including the three pilots on the MD-11 headed for Honolulu.

MD-11 aircrafts make up about 9% of of the UPS fleet and 4% of the FedEx fleet, the companies said.

Logistics companies say consumers shouldn’t expect delays on their packages due to the reduction in flights — for now. But they put a strain on the ahead of the all-important holiday shopping season.

It could take weeks before the MD-11s fly again

Patrick Penfield, a supply-chain management professor at Syracuse University, called the 10% reduction in flight capacity and the grounding of the MD-11 planes a “one-two punch” for cargo carriers and shoppers.

“This is such a stressful time for both companies, and you’ve got this surge in demand and then you just lost some of your capacity,” Penfield said. “So they’re already scrambling as it is during the holiday season, and they’re going to scramble even more.”

Penfield thinks that it could take weeks for UPS and FedEx to get their MD-11 fleets back in service after a thorough review. He estimated that during the mid-December time frame, when shipping is at its peak, shoppers could see delays in deliveries by a day or two. He recommends ordering holiday gifts early.

As for the 10% reduction in flight capacity, most air freight is international. The reduction in flights so far is only on domestic air travel, not global flights. Airlines transport about 35% of global trade by value but only about 1% of world trade by volume, according to the trade group International Air Transport Association.

The FAA order did not address cargo flights specifically, but directed air carriers at 40 airports to reduce their total daily scheduled domestic operations by 10% between 6 a.m. and 10 p.m. local time at each airport. Air freight is carried not only on cargo planes, but also in the bellies of passenger aircraft.

Most air shipping is international, and so far unaffected

Shipping companies said they’re adjusting plans due to the cutbacks.

Both FedEx and UPS said many of their flights take place at night, outside the restricted window. Both also said they had contingency plans to protect shipments of critical items like pharmaceuticals, medical devices and essential manufacturing goods.

FedEx says that it “made the necessary operational modifications to meet the requirements so that shipments continue to move safely and swiftly through our network,” following the FAA order.

UPS said it has built a network “to be safe and resilient and we’re confident we can keep delivering the reliable service our customers count on.”

Western Global Airlines is the only other U.S. cargo airline that flies MD-11s, according to aviation analytics firm Cirium. The airline has 16 MD-11s in its fleet but 12 of them have already been put in storage. The company did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment outside of business hours on Saturday.

Meanwhile, Mike Short, president of Global Forwarding at global freight forwarder C.H. Robinson, said it’s working with customers on contingency plans for the if needed.

“While the FAA’s 10% reduction in intra-U.S. flights will create some ripple effects in transportation, the impact on air freight overall is expected to be limited,” he said. “Because most U.S. domestic air freight moves in the bellies of passenger aircraft versus cargo planes, reductions in commercial routes will tighten air capacity in those markets. So the domestic air market could see temporary constraints and longer transit times.”

Trucks expected to keep supplies moving

He said trucks and expedited ground networks can absorb some displaced volume, but “not without challenges given that short-term surges drive spot rate volatility and equipment repositioning.”

Smaller, high-value goods like smartphones, chips, videogame consoles and electronic toys are more likely to be transported by air using both cargo and passenger planes.

Domestic overnight parcels and letters are also carried by air cargo, but trucks can pick up some of the slack if needed so delays on those are less likely, said Ed Anderson, a professor of supply chain and operations management for the McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas.

Brandon Fried, executive director of the Airforwarders Association, which represents hundreds of air cargo companies, said flight reductions will worsen the disruption already being felt across the aviation sector as the federal stretches on.

“Air cargo depends on every part of the aviation ecosystem working in sync,” he said. “When capacity is cut and federal employees are stretched thin, the supply chain slows, and the longer this shutdown continues, the worse it will get.”

Eytan Buchman, chief marketing officer for cargo booking platform Freightos, said fewer flights will put a strain on the domestic cargo-moving ecosystem.

“Typical safety valves will tighten and that may lengthen lead times and lift spot prices,” he said. But the supply chain has grown more nimble in recent years so that might help, he added.

“The silver lining is that airlines have become very good at consolidating loads and adjusting fleets after five years of dramatic supply chain swings, so this won’t translate to a simple one-to-one loss of capacity everywhere,” he said. “I’d expect carriers to prioritize high-yield lanes, route via secondary hubs, and shift some domestic legs to other modes when it makes sense. Near term, space may feel a bit tighter and schedules less predictable on some connections.”

Harbor Group International buys Virginia Beach apartments for $86M

Norfolk-based investment and management firm announced last week that it has acquired a 480-unit, garden-style apartment complex in for $86 million.

Built in 1986, Reflections at Virginia Beach is a market-rate community spanning 19 two and three-story residential buildings across 30 acres. HGI says the acquisition will strengthen its presence in the market.

While HGI didn’t disclose the seller, and the transaction has not yet been reflected in online records, property tax records show the most recent owner was a limited liability company that shared the address of Virginia Beach-based real estate development and management company The Breeden Co. The company did not immediately return requests for comment. The deal closed on Oct. 30.

According to HGI, Reflections recently underwent a $7 million capital improvement program that enhanced its amenities, including a resident clubhouse and lounge, an outdoor swimming pool, a 24-hour fitness center and a business center.

“The acquisition of Reflections at Virginia Beach underscores our commitment to expanding thoughtfully in markets where we have long-standing experience and strong performance,” said Yisroel Berg, HGI’s chief investment officer of multifamily, in a statement. “Virginia Beach is a dynamic market with robust employment and lifestyle fundamentals, making it an ideal location for our continued growth.”

A HGI spokesperson said the firm will manage the property and plans to do moderate unit renovations and amenity improvements.

Headquartered in , HGI owns or manages over 1,400 units across five properties within the Hampton Roads metropolitan area. Globally, the company owns and manages 504 assets worldwide, around 58,000 multifamily units and 5 million square feet of . It has 1,700 employees worldwide.

Hampton Roads lawmakers split on deal to end shutdown

SUMMARY:

  • At a Hampton Roads forum, U.S. members discussed how they would vote on the
  • Democrat Bobby Scott said he wouldn’t vote for the current deal, while Republicans Rob Wittman and said they would
  • All agree the shutdown has gone on too long and expressed concern for the federal workforce

At a Hampton Roads forum Monday, the region’s U.S. House members all agreed the government shutdown has gone on far too long but split along party lines on the ‘s proposal to end it.

Democratic and Republican U.S. Reps. Jen Kiggans and Rob Wittman spoke during a forum hosted by the on Monday, less than 24 hours after the U.S. Senate voted 60-40 to advance a compromise plan to reopen the government. Virginia’s junior senator, Democrat Tim Kaine, joined Republicans in passing the legislation, which now heads to the House of Representatives.

The deal would restore back pay for and proposes a vote in December on extending Affordable Care Act premium tax credits, the sticking point for Democrats in passing what Republicans called a “clean bill” to reopen the government. House Speaker Mike Johnson called lawmakers to return to Washington, D.C., on Monday.

The vote was divisive among Democrats, with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and the vast majority of Senate Democrats voting no, arguing that it did not guarantee continued health care subsidies. Kaine joined four other Democrats in switching their earlier votes and reaching the 60-vote threshold required to pass the bill.

“This deal guarantees a vote to extend Affordable Care Act premium tax credits, which Republicans weren’t willing to do,” Kaine said in a statement. “Lawmakers know their constituents expect them to vote for it, and if they don’t, they could very well be replaced at the ballot box by someone who will.

At Monday’s forum, Scott, Wittman and Kiggans all condemned Washington’s budget stalemate, which has resulted in a 40-day shutdown of the federal government, delaying paychecks and disrupting some federal operations. The three lawmakers acknowledged its local toll on the military, shipyards and small businesses in Hampton Roads.

But while Wittman and Kiggans, both Republicans, said they would support the U.S. Senate’s resolution to end the government shutdown, Scott, a Democrat, said he wouldn’t vote for it, voicing concerns that the proposed deal was, in his view, a “blank check” to President that failed to fix underlying problems — including Affordable Care Act funding.

Kiggans said the past few weeks have been “eye-opening” for her, and that “the game has got to stop.” She said she has met with shipyard union workers struggling to pay their mortgages and bills on time because of the shutdown.

Wittman called the shutdown “avoidable” and blamed the cycle of continuing resolutions that keep the government running in short bursts.

“It’s ridiculous to me that when there is a shutdown, that we categorize the federal workforce into essential and non-essential employees,” he said. “Tell me how many businesses have non-essential employees? Why would you do that? It doesn’t make any sense to me. And then here’s the next part. So you send the essential workers into work. Then you tell them, ‘By the way, go to work, and we’re not going to pay you.’ How many businesses get to do that and expect that their business is going to run?”

He was critical that congressmembers who caused the shutdown still get paid while many federal employees are furloughed without pay, and others, including air traffic controllers, are working unpaid. Wittman said there should be reform, dubbing it the “Inaction Has Consequences” bill, that would prevent members of from being paid until the shutdown is resolved.

In late October, though, the White House announced active-duty and reserve members of the military would receive their paychecks, as it planned to use about $8 billion in Pentagon funds to cover the Oct. 15 payroll.

Wittman also renewed his push for requiring Congress to adopt budgets on time and eliminating what he called the “antiquated tradition” of the August recess.

“Our members need to stay in Washington until all 12 appropriations bills are done,” he said. “That way, we don’t find ourselves in a continuing resolution situation.”

Challenges growing

Nationwide, the effects of the shutdown have compounded. According to the Associated Press, Airlines canceled more than 2,000 flights on Sunday, food aid was delayed for tens of millions of Americans, and Washington-area food banks are reporting record demand from unpaid federal workers.

Kiggans said she understood concerns about rising health insurance premiums and noted that she had put forward a bill at the beginning of September to extend Affordable Care Act premium tax credits by one year. However, she said the issues can’t be properly debated and voted on until that happens. She added that too many people are being harmed by the shutdown’s effects.

“I’m happy to sit down and have every single health care discussion or any other policy discussion, but we have to get back to regular order, and I can’t do that with the government shutdown,” she said.

But Scott said in an interview after the forum that Republicans have repeatedly tried to repeal the Affordable Care Act, and counting on them to improve it “seems a little optimistic.”

“They got no commitment for the vote to pass,” Scott said of a vote to extend expiring ACA subsidies.

While Kaine broke from the majority of Democrats on the vote to reopen the government, Virginia’s senior Democratic senator, , stuck with the no voters. In a statement, Warner said he appreciated that the compromise proposal included language preventing further mass layoffs of federal employees.

“But I cannot support a deal that still leaves millions of Americans wondering how they are going to pay for their health care or whether they will be able to afford to get sick,” said Warner, who faces a 2026 election, while Kaine last won his seat in 2024. “We owe the American people more than a short-term fix that leaves working families staring down a health care crisis, and simply kicking the can down the road is not good enough.”

Senate inches closer to vote on government shutdown deal

Summary:

  • votes 60-40 to advance compromise bill to end shutdown
  • Speaker urges House lawmakers to return “right now”
  • Five Democrats join Republicans to break six-week stalemate
  • Final votes could take days; health care subsidy fight continues

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate was drawing closer to a vote on legislation to end the shutdown on Monday after a small group of Senate Democrats broke a 40-day stalemate late Sunday evening and voted with Republicans to move forward with reopening the government.

It is unclear when the Senate will hold final votes on the bill, but Senate Majority Leader John Thune said he hopes passage will take “hours not days.”

“The American people have suffered for long enough. Let’s not pointlessly drag this bill out,” he said as the Senate opened on Monday morning.

The legislation would still need to clear the House before the government could reopen. Speaker Mike Johnson urged lawmakers to start returning to Washington “right now” given travel delays, but he said he would issue an official notice for the House’s return once the Senate passes the legislation.

“We have to do this as quickly as possible,” Johnson said at a news conference. He has kept the House out of session since mid-September, when the House passed a bill to continue government funding.

After weeks of negotiations, the moderate Senate Democrats agreed to reopen the government without a guaranteed extension of , angering many in their caucus who have demanded that Republicans negotiate with them on the Affordable Care Act tax credits that expire Jan. 1. Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., promised a mid-December vote on the subsidies, but there was no guarantee of success.

The final vote was 60-40. Senate Democratic leader of New York voted against moving ahead with the package, along with all but eight of his Democratic colleagues.

“We will not give up the fight,” Schumer said, adding that Democrats have now “sounded the alarm” on health care.

Still, an end to the shutdown could still be days away if any senators object and drag out the process. Thune was still working out concerns within his Republican conference about individual provisions in the underlying spending bills.

One of those Republicans, Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, had threatened to object to a provision championed by his home state colleague, former GOP leader Sen. Mitch McConnell, to prevent the sale of some hemp-based products. Paul said he was seeking an amendment to strip the language before a final vote.

President has not said whether he will sign the package, but told reporters at the White House Sunday evening that it “looks like we’re getting close to the shutdown ending.”

Five Democrats switch votes

A group of three former governors — New Hampshire Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, New Hampshire Sen. Maggie Hassan and Independent Sen. Angus King of Maine — broke the six-week stalemate on Sunday when they agreed to vote to advance three bipartisan annual spending bills and extend the rest of government funding until late January.

The legislation includes a reversal of the mass firings of by the since the shutdown began on Oct. 1. It also protects federal workers against further layoffs through January and guarantees they are paid once the shutdown is over.

In addition to Shaheen, King and Hassan, Democratic of Virginia, home to tens of thousands of federal workers, also voted in favor of moving forward on the agreement. Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin, the No. 2 Democrat, Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman and Nevada Sens. Catherine Cortez Masto and Jacky Rosen also voted yes.

The moderates had expected a larger number of Democrats to vote with them as 10-12 Democratic senators had been part of the negotiations. But in the end, only five switched their votes — the exact number that Republicans needed. King, Cortez Masto and Fetterman had already been voting to open the government since Oct. 1.

The agreement includes bipartisan bills worked out by the Senate Appropriations Committee to fund parts of government — food aid, veterans programs and the legislative branch, among other things.

Democrats call the vote a “mistake”

Schumer, who received blowback from his party in March when he voted to keep the government open, said he could not “in good faith” support it after meeting with his caucus for more than two hours on Sunday.

Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, who caucuses with the Democrats, said giving up the fight was a “horrific mistake.” Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., agreed, saying that voters who overwhelmingly supported Democrats in last week’s elections were urging them to “hold firm.”

House Democrats swiftly criticized the Senate.

Texas Rep. Greg Casar, the chairman of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, said a deal that doesn’t reduce health care costs is a “betrayal” of millions of Americans who are counting on Democrats to fight.

Others gave Schumer a nod of support. House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries had criticized Schumer in March after his vote to keep the government open. But he praised the Senate Democratic leader on Monday and expressed support for his leadership throughout the shutdown.

“The American people know we are on the right side of this fight,” Jeffries said Monday, pointing to Tuesday’s election results.

Health care debate ahead

It’s unclear whether the two parties would be able to find any common ground on the health care subsidies before a promised December vote in the Senate. House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., has said he will not commit to bringing it up in his chamber.

On Monday, Johnson said House Republicans have always been open to voting to reform what he called the “unaffordable care act” but again did not say if they would vote on the subsidies.

Some Republicans have said they are open to extending the COVID-19-era tax credits as premiums could skyrocket for millions of people, but they also want new limits on who can receive the subsidies and argue that the tax dollars for the plans should be routed through individuals.

Other Republicans, including Trump, have used the debate to renew their yearslong criticism of the law and called for it to be scrapped or overhauled.

Metsera falls after accepting up to $10 billion offer from Pfizer

Summary

  • wins $10B bid for after rival Novo exits
  • Metsera accepted Pfizer’s offer citing U.S. antitrust risks
  • Shares of Metsera drop 15% after revised, partial-cash deal
  • Pfizer gains entry into fast-growing obesity drug market

(Reuters) -Shares of Metsera fell over 15% in early trading on Monday, after the weight-loss drug developer accepted a sweetened offer from Pfizer to end a fierce bidding war between the pharma giant and Danish rival .

U.S. drugmaker Pfizer said late on Friday it had clinched an up to $10 billion deal for Metsera, in a blow to Novo as the Danish group tries to claw back lost ground against U.S. rival .

Metsera accepted Pfizer’s offer, citing U.S. antitrust risks with Novo’s bid that it had previously called superior. The Danish obesity drug behemoth said on Saturday it would exit the race.

“Pfizer effectively had the upper hand throughout — because as long as they matched whatever Novo offered, they were guaranteed the asset,” said BMO Capital Markets analyst Evan Seigerman.

Under the terms of the final deal, Pfizer has agreed to pay $65.60 per share upfront, and up to $20.65 per share additionally contingent on the success of its pipeline of drugs, valuing Metsera at up to $10 billion.

Metsera shares were down 15.2% at $70.58 and Pfizer fell 1.4% to $24.09.

Seigerman said Metsera shares fell on Monday because Pfizer’s revised offer “is not all cash upfront”, and the actual value may be lower once the risk of missing milestone payments tied to the CVR is taken into account.

As of last close, Metsera shares have surged nearly 150% since Pfizer first said it would acquire the biotech firm in a deal valued at up to $7.3 billion.

The win hands Pfizer a way into the lucrative obesity drug market, even if Metsera’s treatments remain years from hitting the market.

Metsera’s experimental , currently in early-to-mid-stage development, include MET-097i, a designed for a once-monthly injection, compared with similar treatments from Lilly and Novo, which require weekly injections. It is also developing MET-233i, which mimics the pancreatic hormone amylin.

Drugmakers are facing pressure from the U.S. government to slash prices of prescription drugs in the country, which often pays nearly three times more than in other developed nations.

Last week, President had cut a deal with Novo and Lilly to slash the prices of its blockbuster weight-loss drugs for the government’s health insurance programs, as well as for cash payers.

Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla said in a CNBC interview the prices it had used in its analysis of the Metsera deal were similar to the ones Novo and Lilly had announced at the White House meeting.

(Reporting by Stine Jacobsen and Mariam Sunny; Additional reporting by Maggie Fick in London; editing by Terje Solsvik and Krishna Chandra Eluri)

 

Tesla Cybertruck chief exits after eight years

Summary

The executive leading Tesla’s Cybertruck business is leaving the -led automaker after eight years.

Siddhant Awasthi, the program manager for Tesla’s Cybertruck and Model 3, said on LinkedIn that it wasn’t an easy decision to depart the company. He did not provide details on what he will be doing next.

Awasthi said he began as an intern at Tesla and was involved in “ramping up Model 3, working on Giga Shanghai, developing new electronics and wireless architectures, and delivering the once-in-a-lifetime Cybertruck – all before hitting 30. The icing on the cake was getting to dive back into Model 3 work toward the end.”

Last month Tesla announced that it was recalling more than 63,000 Cybertrucks in the U.S. because the front lights are too bright, which may cause a distraction to other drivers and increase the risk of a collision.

In March U.S. safety regulators recalled virtually all Cybertrucks on the road. The NHTSA’s recall, which covered more than 46,000 Cybertrucks, warned that an exterior panel that runs along the left and right side of the windshield can detach while driving, creating a dangerous road hazard for other drivers, increasing the risk of a crash.

Tesla reported a fourth straight decline in quarterly profit in October, even as sales rose. The automaker reported third-quarter earnings plunged 37% to $1.4 billion, or 39 cents a share, from $2.2 billion, or 62 cents a share, a year earlier. That marked the fourth quarter in a row that profit dropped. And even the revenue rise, a welcome relief from a sales plunge earlier in the year due to anti-Musk boycotts, came with a significant caveat: Customers rushed to take advantage of a $7,500 federal EV tax credit before it expired on Oct. 1, possibly stealing sales from the current quarter.

While Tesla continues to have difficulties, last week Musk won a shareholder vote that would give him stock worth $1 trillion if he hits certain performance targets over the next decade. More than 75% of voters approved the plan as shareholders gathered in Austin, Texas, for their annual meeting.

The vote was a resounding victory for Musk, showing investors still have faith in him as Tesla struggles with plunging sales, market share and profits in no small part due to Musk himself. Car buyers fled the company this year as he has ventured into politics both in the U.S. and Europe, and trafficked in conspiracy theories.

Tesla’s stock rose more than 2% before the market open on Monday.