EU, Japan Spared Tariffs

Trump’s 100% pharmaceutical tariffs won’t apply to the EU and Japan.

Author

Ankit Sinha
September 29, 2025

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🎯 In this issue:

  • Banana Bits: Finance headlines that actually matter

  • Market Summary: Echoes of 2007 as LBO boom, credit strains raise concerns

  • What’s Ripe / Rotten: The tastiest and most disgusting stocks 

  • Technical Trip: Interview Q&A from J.P.Morgan 

  • Student Spotlight: A+ equity research report

  • Deal Dispatch: M&A, IPOs, and other transactions 

  • The Daily Poll: See how you stack up

  • Student Success: Get INSTANT results in investment banking with this simple fix

Market Snapshot

📉 Banana Bits

Market Recap

A Reminiscent of 2007? 

We may be far away from 2007, but, like people say, history repeats itself, and we may see some patterns. 

In 2007, we got the TXU Corps’s $44 billion LBO; now it is EA’s potential $50 billion LBO. Then, it was subprime mortgage bonds; now it’s private credit, a whopping $1.7 trillion market. 

Well, not as bad, but back in 2007, consumers were missing mortgage payments, and now they’re falling behind on auto loans. 

It might still be too early to predict a great financial crisis 2.0, but there are also signs that are showing some cracks in the economy. 

Premiums on U.S. high-grade corporate bonds reached their tightest in 27 years earlier this month. U.S. employment reached a high in 2021, while job growth notably declined. A report on Friday also showed that U.S. consumer sentiment fell in September to a four-month low 

What's Ripe

Electronic Arts Inc. (EA) 14.9%

  • EA rose 15% after the publisher behind titles such as "FC" and "Battlefield", is in advanced talks to go private at a valuation of roughly $50 billion.

  • Private equity firm Silver Lake, Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund, and Jared Kushner's Affinity Partners could unveil a deal for the publisher as soon as next week.

Paccar Inc (PCAR) 5.2%

  • PCAR jumped about 5% on Friday after President Donald Trump announced that he would impose a 25% tariff on imported heavy trucks beginning Oct. 1.

  • Paccar is responsible for manufacturing more than 90% of its U.S. trucks domestically.

What's Rotten

Concentrix Corporation (CNXC) 13.3%

  • Concentrix Corp exceeded its revenue guidance for Q3 2025, demonstrating solid year-on-year growth.

  • Margins were below plan for the quarter due to excess capacity and slower-than-expected client volume consolidation.

Costco Wholesale Corp. (COST) 2.9%

  • Cost was down 2.9% even after the giant warehouse club reported fiscal fourth-quarter earnings of $5.87 a share, beating analysts’ $5.80.

  • Same-store sales increased 5.7%, missing estimates of an increase of 5.9%.

🧠 Technical Trip

Interview Q&A from J.P.Morgan

👉 Want 1-on-1 recruiting help from J.P.Morgan bankers & 2,000+ top mentors? Apply to WSO Academy

🌟 Student Spotlight

A+ Equity Research Report 📊

Looking for a stellar example of what makes an equity research report stand out?

One of our WSO Academy students, Jing (Céline) Huang, put together an impressive deep dive on e.l.f. Beauty, covering valuation, catalysts, and key risks with the kind of insight that turns good pitches into great ones. 

🦈 Deal Dispatch

M&A, IPOs, And Other Notable Transactions

📊The Daily Poll

Which consumer stress worries you most?

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Previous Poll:

Biggest driver ahead?

Trump’s tax law: 36.4% // Lower rates: 36.4% // Consumer spending: 20.5% // Global trade: 6.7%

Student Success Corner

👉 Check out more on WSO YouTube

Banana Brain Teaser

Previous

To complete a reading assignment on time, Terry planned to read 90 pages per day. However, she read only 75 pages per day at first, leaving 690 pages to be read during the last 6 days before the assignment was to be completed. How many days in all did Terry have to complete the assignment on time?

Answer: 16

Today

Club X has more than 10 but fewer than 40 members. Sometimes the members sit at tables with 3 members at one table and 4 members at each of the other tables, and sometimes they sit at tables with 3 members at one table and 5 members at each of the other tables. If they sit at tables with 6 members at each table except one and fewer than 6 members at that one table, how many members will be at the table that has fewer than 6 members?

❝

If you have trouble imagining a 20% loss in the stock market, you shouldn’t be in stocks.

John Bogle

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Happy Investing,
Chris, Vyom, Ankit, Mitchell, Colin, & Patrick