MARKET WRAPS

STOCKS: A selloff in bank and tech stocks pushed major indexes lower Monday, amid trepidation ahead of earnings from retailers and Nvidia later in the week.

TREASURYS: Treasury yields slipped amid risk aversion.

FOREX: The U.S. dollar rose against peers as traders weighed the outlook for interest rates.

COMMODITIES: Oil futures settled lower in rangebound trade amid elevated geopolitical tensions.

HEADLINES

Fed Vice Chair Says Economic Trade-Offs Justify Lowering Rates Slowly

Federal Reserve officials face a challenge resolving differences over how to set interest rates with little new economic data to guide tricky judgment calls.

Fed Vice Chair Philip Jefferson offered a case study in the central bank's predicament on Monday, acknowledging the risk of stubborn inflation and weaker employment conditions-dueling threats that call for opposing prescriptions.

"The evolving balance of risks underscores the need to proceed slowly" with rate cuts, Jefferson said during a talk at the Kansas City Fed.

Construction Spending Sped Up in August

The pace of U.S. construction spending picked up in August, according to a Census Bureau report Monday that had been delayed by the government shutdown.

Construction outlays reached an annualized pace of $2.17 trillion in August, up from $2.165 trillion the month before, a 0.2% increase. Economists had been expecting construction spending to contract by 0.2% in August.

Private-sector construction spending grew by 0.3% to reach a $1.652 trillion annualized rate. Growth was faster yet in private residential construction, which rose by 0.8%.

Johnson & Johnson to Buy Halda Therapeutics For $3.05 Billion

Johnson & Johnson has agreed to buy clinical-stage biotechnology company Halda Therapeutics for $3.05 billion in cash in a deal that bolsters the healthcare giant's oncology pipeline.

J&J on Monday said the deal, slated to close within the next few months, adds Halda's proprietary platform to develop oral, targeted therapies for multiple types of solid tumors, including prostate cancer.

The New Brunswick, N.J., company said Halda's lead candidate, HLD-0915, is once-daily therapy for prostate cancer that has the potential to transform patient outcomes with a novel precision cancer cell-killing approach that can overcome mechanisms of resistance to treatment.

New York Manufacturing Activity Accelerates

Factory activity in New York State unexpectedly picked up pace this month, as signals of demand improved, despite some dimming of optimism among manufacturers.

The Federal Reserve Bank of New York said Monday that its statewide manufacturing index of business conditions rose eight points in November to a 18.7, reflecting accelerating expansion of activity. A consensus of economists polled by The Wall Street Journal had expected the index to fall to 5.5. The reading was the fourth positive reading in the last five months.

New orders and shipments increased significantly, while delivery times lengthened a little, and supply availability weakened somewhat, the New York Fed said.

Gibraltar to Acquire OmniMax International for $1.34 Billion

Gibraltar Industries agreed to acquire roofing-products manufacturer OmniMax International from funds managed by Strategic Value Partners and its affiliates for about $1.34 billion in cash.

Gibraltar, which manufactures products for residential, infrastructure, renewable-energy and agricultural-technology markets, said the acquisition would accelerate its expansion into the residential-building-products market.

The merger is expected to create $35 million in savings by the end of 2028, said Gibraltar.

CD&R to Buy Sealed Air for $6.2 Billion

Sealed Air has struck a deal to be acquired by private-equity firm Clayton Dubilier & Rice for about $6.2 billion in cash.

Sealed Air on Monday said CD&R will pay $42.15 a share, 2.6% below Friday's closing price of $43.28 for the Charlotte, N.C., packaging company but nearly 16% above Wednesday's closing price of $36.38, before The Wall Street Journal reported that CD&R was closing in on a deal to buy the Bubble Wrap maker.

The transaction, which carries an enterprise value of about $10.3 billion, is slated to close in mid-2026.

Sinclair Takes Stake in E.W. Scripps to Push Takeover Deal

Sinclair said Monday it built a roughly 8% stake in E.W. Scripps and is vying to acquire the local TV broadcaster.

The two companies held constructive talks about a potential deal in recent months but have yet to strike an agreement, Sinclair said. Sinclair's stake was revealed in a regulatory filing, confirming an earlier report by The Wall Street Journal.

TALKING POINT Why We Could Use a Good, Long Bear Market

This is an online version of Spencer Jakab's Markets A.M. newsletter. Get investing insights in your inbox each weekday by signing up here-it's free.

"How bad do you think it's gonna be?"

When Michael Corleone asks Clemenza in "The Godfather" about the mob war he's about to start, he gets the sort of reassurance that comes with experience. "These things gotta happen every five years or so, ten years. Helps to get rid of the bad blood...been ten years since the last one."

There's no saying when the next major bear market will send Americans to the mattresses-maybe through the collapse of AI mania, or possibly just a garden-variety recession. There have only been minor scrapes the past 16 years, and that's actually a problem.

A downturn like 2007-09 when U.S. stocks fell by more than half can be both awful and therapeutic. It took 66 months for the S&P 500 to regain its previous high. Investors with a long-term perspective pounced on what in hindsight were solid, boring bargains near the bottom.

The five brief downturns since then that met the unofficial definition of a bear market taught the opposite lesson. Momentarily terrifying, they encouraged investors to "buy the dip" quickly and recklessly-the junkier the stocks, the better.

--Spencer Jakab

Expected Major Events for Tuesday

09:30/UK: Aug Card Spending statistics

09:30/UK: Oct Monthly Insolvency statistics

13:15/CAN: Oct Housing Starts

13:30/US: Oct Import & Export Price Indexes

13:55/US: 11/15 Johnson Redbook Retail Sales Index

14:15/US: Oct Industrial Production and Capacity Utilization (No data during govt shutdown)

15:00/US: Aug Manufacturers' Shipments, Inventories & Orders (M3)

15:00/US: Nov NAHB Housing Market Index

15:00/US: 3Q Quarterly Retail E-Commerce Sales

21:00/US: Sep Treasury International Capital Data

21:30/US: API Weekly Statistical Bulletin

23:50/JPN: Sep Orders Received for Machinery

23:50/JPN: Oct Provisional Trade Statistics for the Month

All times in GMT. Powered by Onclusive and Dow Jones.

Expected Earnings for Tuesday

AECOM $(ACM)$ is expected to report $1.33 for 4Q.

BellRing Brands Inc (BRBR) is expected to report $0.55 for 4Q.

Dolby Laboratories Inc - A Share $(DLB)$ is expected to report $0.35 for 4Q.

Energizer Holdings Inc $(ENR)$ is expected to report $1.13 for 4Q.

Golub Capital BDC (GBDC) is expected to report $0.39 for 4Q.

Home Depot Inc $(HD)$ is expected to report $3.77 for 3Q.

Ituran Location & Control Ltd (ITRN,ITRN-TV) is expected to report for 3Q.

KULR Technology Group Inc $(KULR)$ is expected to report for 3Q.

La-Z-Boy Inc $(LZB)$ is expected to report $0.54 for 2Q.

Medtronic PLC $(MDT)$ is expected to report $0.93 for 2Q.

Navios Maritime Partners LP (NMM) is expected to report $2.10 for 3Q.

Northern Technologies International Corp $(NTIC)$ is expected to report $0.06 for 4Q.

Oaktree Specialty Lending Corp (OCSL) is expected to report $0.37 for 4Q.

Powell Industries Inc (POWL) is expected to report $3.78 for 4Q.

S&W Seed Co (SANW) is expected to report for 1Q.

Solana Co (HSDT) is expected to report for 3Q.

Star Equity Holdings Inc (STRR) is expected to report for 3Q.

StoneX Group Inc $(SNEX)$ is expected to report $1.58 for 4Q.

Ultralife Corp $(ULBI)$ is expected to report for 3Q.

Universal Safety Products Inc $(UUU)$ is expected to report for 2Q.

Varex Imaging Corp (VREX) is expected to report $0.14 for 4Q.

Wilhelmina International Inc (WHLM) is expected to report for 3Q.

Zynex Inc $(ZYXI)$ is expected to report $-0.19 for 3Q.

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This article is a text version of a Wall Street Journal newsletter published earlier today.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

November 17, 2025 16:31 ET (21:31 GMT)

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