M&A Sweep Steals the Show

Deal of the Day

DoorDash is buying Instacart for $17 billion. It is the biggest consumer tech deal of the year. The combination links on-demand food delivery with grocery logistics. Salesforce also made a move today, acquiring Rune Technologies. ADT is being taken private by Thrive Holdings. M&A is back in full force on the final trading day of October.

Earnings Caution Ahead

Auto earnings dominate next week. Ferrari reports Tuesday. Austrian car registration data, a weak-fit leading indicator for Ferrari revenue, is running 75% below the same quarter last year. That leaves the print genuinely uncertain. Honda follows Thursday, with Japanese car registrations pointing 10% below year-ago levels. Polestar also reports Thursday, with conflicting signals: Dutch car data runs 37% below year-ago levels while German data sits 32% above. Expect a volatile reaction.

Europe Flashes Macro Warning

German unemployment hit 4.1% in September, the highest September reading in ten years. Italian unemployment rose to 6.3%, a two-year high for September. Both readings come from official labour-market registers tracked by ORTEX Alt Data. The data lands as Flutter Entertainment and Charter Communications sit under MSCI World deletion pressure ahead of the November 11 index announcement.

Index Mechanics

LXP Industrial Trust and CBIZ are both deleted from the Russell 2000 and Russell 3000 today following completed cash acquisitions. Past Russell deletions of this kind have traded at 9.1 times normal volume on the trade day. Moderna looms as the largest forecast MSCI World addition, with an 88% probability and $5.9 billion of estimated index buying due on 30 November. Meta settled a social media addiction lawsuit today, leaving Snap as the sole remaining defendant.