Silver banana goes to…

Your Daily Dose of Market & Career Clarity

📬 Delivered to 150,000+ ambitious readers

🎯 In this issue:

• Banana Bits: Finance headlines that actually matter

• Market Summary: Stocks rise as healthcare surges on Pfizer deal

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

• Technical Trip: Interview Question with 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

Market Snapshot

📉 Banana Bits

• U.S. manufacturing activity contracted for the seventh straight month.

• Companies raised $207 billion in U.S. investment-grade bonds in September.

• Bank of Canada considers holding interest rates amid strong consumption.

• Donald Trump’s wealth found a new home—Citigroup.

• EV automakers extend $7500 subsidy as federal subsidy expires.

• Amazon starts grocery brand aimed at deal-conscious shoppers.

• Tesla’s less-bad quarter offers reprieve in the midst of a sales slump.

• Dollar slump puts share of Foreign Reserves at 30-year low.

Market Recap

Healthcare Got a Boost 

It seems that investors just shrugged off the risk of a federal shutdown; instead, they just focused on fresh economic data that could reinforce rate cuts for the next couple of months. 

U.S. factory activity shrank in September for a seventh consecutive month; Additionally, private sector payroll decreased by 32,000 after data adjustment.

The S&P 500 rose 0.3% in Wednesday trading, but this time it is not driven by the ‘Mag 7’stocks. Instead, we got investors pumping up healthcare stocks after the Trump Administration made a deal with Pfizer. 

The deal included selling drugs to Medicaid and setting new prices at low rates. Pfizer will also receive a 50% discount on TrumpRX, the new direct-to-consumer platform that enables consumers to purchase directly from manufacturers without insurance. This deal spread optimism in the sector as it paved the way for more of these arrangements. 

What's Ripe

Lithium Americas Corp. (LAC) 23.3%

• LAC soared 23.3% after the company announced that the US government acquired a 5% stake in the company.

• The stake received by the US government will be a joint venture between LAC and GM.

The AES Corporation (AES) 16.8%

• BlackRock’s Global Infrastructure Partners LP is in advanced talks to acquire power company AES Corporation.

• The deal came amid investors' anticipation of an increase in demand from the AI sector.

What's Rotten

Reddit Inc. (RDDT) 12%

• RDDT declined -12% after an analyst cited a drop in OpenAI citations. This is the most intraday decline since April 30.

Corteva Inc. (CTVA) 9.1%

• Shares plunged as the agricultural products maker announced it would split its seed and pesticide businesses into two separate companies.

🧠 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, Sebastian Morar Huang, put together an impressive deep dive on American Express (AXP), covering valuation, catalysts, and key risks with the kind of insight that turns good pitches into great ones. 

Check out the report here:

Learn about WSO Academy

🌟 Mentor Spotlight

Meet Jon, a former Morgan Stanley Equity Research VP and one of WSO’s most respected mentors.

In this podcast episode, Jon shares how he broke into ER, the toughest modeling tests, and the advice he gives every candidate heading into final rounds.

👉 Want direct access to mentors like Jon?
Apply to WSO Academy

🦈 Deal Dispatch

M&A, IPOs, And Other Notable Transactions

• Dealmakers see APAC getting back on track after big M&A misses.

• Shawbrook to weigh London IPO filing in the coming days.

• Goldman Sachs Shops near $4 billion debt deal for DuPont Unit.

• 3i said to mull options, including the sale of French IT firm Evernex.

• LSE’s CEO Hoggett says Bourse is not for sale after Euronext jab.

• Einride valuation tops $1 billion as truck startup raises funds.

• Flood insurer Neptune shares climb 24% after $368 million U.S. IPO.

• Rocket Cos.’ takeover of Mr. Cooper completed at $14.2 billion.

• J.P.Morgan’s Aiyengar says quest for scale is driving bigger M&A.

📊The Daily Poll

Previous Poll:

Which consumer stress worries you most?

Auto loans: 17.4% // Mortgages: 36.2% // Credit cards: 27.6% // None yet: 18.8%

Student Success Corner

👉 Are you next? Find out with WSO Academy

Banana Brain Teaser

Previous

A pharma company received $3 million in royalties on the first $20 million sales of the generic equivalent of one of its products and then $9 million in royalties on the next $108 million in sales. By approximately what percent did the ratio of royalties to sales decrease from the first $20 million in sales to the next $108 million in sales?

Answer: 45%

Today

A certain characteristic in a large population has a distribution that is symmetric about the mean m. If 68% of the distribution lies within one standard deviation d of the mean, what % of the distribution is less than m+d?

How Would You Rate Today's Peel?

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

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