Trump announces $15B libel suit against New York Times: Morning Buzz

The major averages were broadly lower as investors zero in on the Federal Reserve’s two-day policy meeting, expected to yield a 25-basis-point rate cut. Confidence in easing is high, and fresh developments have bolstered that view. Meanwhile, the U.S. NAHB homebuilder confidence index remained steady at 32 in September, while business inventories rose 0.6% in August and industrial production beat assumptions for the month.

Looking to commodities, gold prices were little changed as the “safe haven” commodity continues to hit record highs amid dollar weakness and rate-cut expectations. Additionally, oil was sharply higher, adding to yesterday’s gains as energy traders have their eyes on this afternoon’s crude numbers from API.

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1. STOCK NEWS:

• President Trump announced a $15B libel lawsuit against the New York Times (NYT)
• Oracle (ORCL) is among firms to enable TikTok to continue U.S. operations, CBS News reports
• Senator Elizabeth Warren said that any potential bid for Paramount Skydance (PSKY) to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) should be blocked
• U.S. retail sales beat estimates with August gains of 0.6% for the headline and 0.7% for the ex-auto measure
• U.S. industrial production bounced 0.1% in August, stronger than forecast

2. WALL STREET CALLS:

• Goldman Sachs (HSY) to Buy from Sell, saying the shares are trading at a “compelling risk/reward”
• Baidu (BIDU) upgraded to Buy at Arete, here’s why
• TD Cowen downgraded Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) to Hold from Buy
• VF Corp. (VFC) downgraded to Hold at Stifel, whichc says the risk/reward is now “in balance”
• Bernstein initiated coverage of the IT hardware group, saying Apple (AAPL), Dell Technologies (DELL), Seagate (STX) and SanDisk (SNDK) are will be winners in the “intelligence revolution”

3. AROUND THE WEB:

• Ford (F) plans to cut up to 1,000 jobs related to electric car production in German’s Cologne due to weak demand, Reuters reports
• Live Nation’s (LYV) Ticketmaster is being probed by the U.S Federal Trade Commission, FTC, regarding its efforts to prevent bots from illegally reselling tickets on its platform, Bloomberg says
• Tencent (TCEHY) is seeking to raise the equivalent of $1B in a three-tranche offshore yuan bond deal, Reuters reports
• Novo Nordisk (NVO) Chief Scientific Officer Martin Holst Lange said on Tuesday at the European Association for the Study of Diabetes conference in Vienna that the company plans to seek U.S. regulatory approval for a high-dose version of its weight-loss shot Wegovy, Bloomberg says
• Apollo Global (APO) is exploring a sale of AOL after receiving inbound interest in the business, WSJ reports

4. MOVERS:

• Webtoon (WBTN) gains after Disney (DIS) announced plans to acquire a 2% stake in the company
• Jumia Technologies (JMIA) increases in New York after RBC Capital upgraded the stock to Outperform
• Asset Entities (ASST) declines after acquiring MSTR True North in a de minimis cash transaction
• Dave & Buster’s (PLAY) lower after reporting Q2 results, with EPS missing consensus
• Adtran (ADTN) falls after announcing a $150M notes offering

5. EARNINGS/GUIDANCE:

• Ralph Lauren (RL) backed its guidance for FY26
• Charles River (CRL) reaffirmed its guidance for FY25
• Ferguson (FERG) reported Q4 results, with EPS and revenue beating consensus
• Insulet (PODD) expects to exceed Q3 revenue guidance
• Steel Dynamics (STLD) provided guidance for Q3

INDEXES:

Near midday, the Dow was down 163.55, or 0.36%, to 45,719.90, the Nasdaq was down 20.33, or 0.091%, to 22,328.42, and the S&P 500 was down 11.13, or 0.17%, to 6,604.15.