MARKET WRAPS

STOCKS: Stocks slid and the Nasdaq completed its largest weekly loss since June amid fears about credit costs derailing the artificial-intelligence boom.

TREASURYS: Long-term Treasury yields rose as oil prices surged again.

FOREX: The U.S. dollar fell against rivals as the upward trend in place for much of the year reversed itself this week.

COMMODITIES: Oil futures closed above the psychologically significant $100-per-barrel level in New York after the biggest weekly gain since July.

HEADLINES

Warsh Avoids Signal on October Rate Move

Federal Reserve Chairman Kevin Warsh declined to endorse or push back

on colleagues' recent signals that officials are in no rush to raise

interest rates this month, saying the central bank was no longer in the

business of previewing its decisions.

"I don't prejudge meetings. I don't believe in saying now what I might

do at the meetings we have in the balance of this year," Warsh said.

"It's a new chapter at the Fed, and we're not in that business anymore."

Warsh made the comments Friday morning local time in Bangkok in a

moderated conversation at the meetings of the International Monetary Fund

and shortly before Fed officials were set to enter their quiet period

ahead of the Oct. 27-28 meeting. He spoke with IMF Managing Director

Kristalina Georgieva.

U.S. Import Prices Rose in September

U.S. import prices rose in September for the second consecutive month,

the Bureau of Labor Statistics said Friday.

Overall import prices rose 1.1% in September, after expanding by 0.5%

in August, the BLS said. Economists polled by The Wall Street Journal had

forecast a 0.8% increase. Year-on-year import prices were up 8.1%, the

BLS said.

Import prices exclude duties, such as tariffs imposed on imports by

the Trump administration, as well as transportation costs.

From Verizon to UnitedHealth, Corporate America Is Balking at 'Tokenized'

Stocks

The country's top securities regulator made a push last month to bring

tokenized stock trading to the U.S. Now, corporate America is pushing

back.

AI chip maker Broadcom, telecom stalwart Verizon Communications and

UnitedHealth are among the companies objecting to the Securities and

Exchange Commission's plan for tokenizing their stocks, according to a

regulatory filing.

Many exchanges and trading venues are eager to offer digital tokens

that represent traditional shares and can trade 24/7. The goal is to

appeal to a class of new-age investors who have grown up on crypto and

want to trade round-the-clock. But some companies worry the SEC's plan

for tokenization might create a shadow stock market, distort trading and

confuse investors.

Travelers Profit Ticks Up on Investment Gains

Travelers reported higher quarterly profit, despite roughly flat

revenue, helped by investment gains.

The insurance company on Friday posted a third-quarter profit of $1.92

billion, or $9.04 a share, compared with $1.89 billion, or $8.24 a share,

a year earlier.

Core earnings per share were $9.18, compared with analyst estimates of

$7.39, according to FactSet.

Regions Financial Posts Higher Profit, Revenue

Regions Financial posted higher profit and revenue in the third

quarter, as both net interest income and non-interest income grew.

The Regions Bank parent posted a profit of $611 million, or 71 cents a

share, compared with $539 million, or 62 cents a share, in the same

quarter a year earlier.

Stripping out one-time items, earnings came in at 73 cents a share.

Analysts polled by FactSet had expected adjusted earnings of 66 cents a

share.

The U.S. budget deficit just hit almost $2 trillion - and Washington

isn't doing much about it

The U.S. federal government's annual budget deficit reached almost $2

trillion for the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, the Treasury Department

said Friday.

The deficit figure of $1.992 trillion is the largest since 2021 and

amounts to an estimated 6.2% of U.S. gross domestic product, according to

Treasury officials.

It represents a fresh sign of Washington's tendency to spend much more

than it takes in even when the U.S. economy isn't in a recession, and

comes just a couple of months after a bout of hand-wringing over the

government's total debt surpassing $40 trillion.

Cleveland-Cliffs Braces for Fight as Canada Looks to Block Layoffs at

Stelco

OTTAWA-Cleveland-Cliffs is digging in on planned lay offs at its

Stelco operations in Canada as Prime Minister Mark Carney's government

weighs legal options, including fines and potentially forced sale of

assets, to protect workers.

Calls for Ottawa to take action have grown in recent days after Stelco

began handing out layoff notices. Industry Minister Melanie Joly had

earlier requested that the steel company produce a plan to comply with

promises on jobs she said were agreed to when Cliffs bought Stelco in

2024 for about $2.5 billion.

Cliffs Chief Executive Lourenco Goncalves said the company hasn't

breached the law and that a temporary reduction in headcount is needed as

it refocuses its operations to counter the pressure on the industry from

tariffs. The company, which is set to report quarterly results on Monday,

said it could lay off as many as 500 workers as it idles cold-rolled and

coated steel operations in Hamilton, Ontario, and concentrates on

hot-roll products.

Tesla's New Roadster Takes Flight After Nearly a Decade of Delays

After nine years, potentially millions of dollars in deposits and

considerable hype, the Tesla Roadster is finally ready to launch-which it

did.

The electric automaker on Thursday unveiled its second-generation

sports car with a flourish of engineering prowess. Using SpaceX rocket

technology, the angular sports car climbed a curved ramp and hurled

itself to a controlled landing. Later, it leapt over five other Tesla

vehicles while twisting in the air.

The demonstration was held before a crowd of Tesla enthusiasts-some of

whom paid $250,000 to reserve the car nine years ago-at a SpaceX rocket

test site facility in McGregor, Texas.

Tesla's Energy Boss Leaves the Company

Tesla's top energy boss has left the company.

Mike Snyder, vice president of energy and charging, stepped down from

his role, according to people familiar with the move.

Snyder joined Tesla in 2014 and worked his way up to lead the

company's Megapack industrial battery division, according to his LinkedIn

page. He was promoted to vice president in 2024 following a companywide

restructuring and layoffs that saw the departure of several of Tesla's

top executives, including longtime energy chief Drew Baglino.

TALKING POINT Michael Dell, a Dot-Com Era Survivor, Has Tips to Beat an AI Bust

Spooked investors are fleeing some of the big-tech companies that reached new highs on the back of the artificial-intelligence boom.

But Michael Dell says his company is well-placed to weather a storm. The direct-to-consumer PC company he founded in a dorm room in 1984 with $1,000 has pivoted to delivering the powerful supercomputers that tech giants can't get enough of. And its strategy for selling them makes it relatively unique among the businesses benefiting most from the world's unprecedented AI infrastructure build-out.

Dell relies on just-in-time manufacturing of its AI servers and PCs, which has allowed it, in essence, to get its customers to finance its operations and inventory. Meanwhile, hyperscalers like Amazon.com and Google and the builders of their AI data centers-the so-called neoclouds like CoreWeave, Nebius and Crusoe-are piling on debt to fund the build-out of their AI hubs.

Dell Technologies' valuation is almost four times what it was a year ago, boosted by a projected 70% increase in revenue for its current fiscal year.

When I asked Dell on Tuesday about how he was preparing his company for a possible downturn in the AI cycle, he said, "There are some new challenges that this presents, but if you look at our cash conversion cycle, it's still negative."