Business & Markets

SAN FRANCISCO — Salesforce said Tuesday it will acquire customer-engagement software maker Braze for about $5.66 billion. Braze holders will receive $47.50 in cash per share. The stock closed Monday at $30.04, and it finished Tuesday at $45.57, up more than 51%, after a brief premarket halt. The transaction needs shareholder and regulatory approvals and is expected to close in Salesforce's fiscal 2028. Braze, which sells AI-driven tools for managing customer data and messaging, will keep building its products under Salesforce, according to CEO Bill Magnuson. The deal follows Salesforce's purchase of AI customer-service platform Fin for about $3.6 billion, announced earlier this year. Together the deals show the company buying its way into AI-enabled marketing and service software.

SYDNEY — National Australia Bank said Tuesday it will cut up to 2,500 jobs, about 6% of its workforce, by mid-2027. Up to 1,500 of those roles go before the end of 2026. The lender will book a pre-tax restructuring charge of about A$300 million, compared with about A$80 million in each of the past two years. It will also sharply reduce its use of consultants and contractors. CEO Andrew Irvine said corporate functions and senior management bear the brunt, with no material effect on customer-facing roles. The bank's filing cites rapid technological change but does not mention AI. The Finance Sector Union says executives declined to say whether AI drives the cuts, and that about 180 roles will move offshore to Vietnam and India. NAB shares fell about 2.5%. Full-year results are due November 5.

SAN DIEGO — Qualcomm is preparing job cuts across its global operations, according to an internal memo from CEO Cristiano Amon that Reuters reviewed Monday. Amon called the move a performance-focused reduction that follows the company's annual employee reviews. He said it is meant to build a stronger performance culture and to address areas where the company has repeatedly fallen short of expectations. Affected employees will be notified in November. The memo does not say how many positions will go. Amon said business priorities, organizational needs and employee skills will guide the decisions. The cuts come as the smartphone chip business faces weaker consumer electronics sales this year, with rising memory prices weighing on demand. Qualcomm shares have risen only about 1.5% in 2026.

WASHINGTON — Google filed a new brief at the D.C. Circuit this week. In it, the company argues it won the markets for search and search advertising 'fair and square' and never harmed the competitive process, according to MLex. Another MLex report says Google told the court the trial judge went past the guardrails that keep antitrust law from punishing vigorous competition. Law360 described the filing as Google's last push against the Justice Department's win. It says Google contends the government's case targets market dominance that Google earned. The filing also attacks the remedies requiring Google to support search rivals with data and syndicated results. Both sides have appealed. The Justice Department and states want stronger remedies. The court has yet to schedule argument. The remedies remain in effect while the appeal proceeds.

Google appears to be dropping the 'AI Overview' label from some AI-generated answers at the top of results pages, Search Engine Roundtable reported Tuesday. The examples came from SEO consultant Glenn Gabe, who saw unlabeled overviews for movie and TV queries on desktop. The same feature carried the label on mobile. Gabe said he suspected a bug and had contacted Google. Roundtable noted that Google has had missing labels before and called that a bug. It also said the change might explain why Semrush showed a drop in AI Overview frequency. Gabe still saw many AI Overviews labeled correctly. Google has not commented. Click-impact research is mixed on what such overviews mean for publishers. Pew found users clicked a traditional result on 8% of visits with an AI summary, against 15% without.

WASHINGTON — The Federal Reserve meets Oct. 27-28 with its policy rate at 3.75% to 4%, after September's unanimous quarter-point hike, the first since 2023. Traders put the chance of a hold at roughly 83%. Pricing for a December increase runs from about 75% to 89%, depending on the gauge. Chair Kevin Warsh said last week he does not prejudge meetings, and officials are now in their blackout period, so futures and the Treasury curve are the only guide. A CNBC analysis argues that investors may be too complacent, because Warsh has rejected traditional forward guidance and still sees inflation as the main concern. The Fed's preferred inflation gauge, the PCE price index, is due next week. The 10-year Treasury yield closed Tuesday near 5.12% and the 2-year near 4.8%.

WASHINGTON — The National Association of Realtors said its pending home sales index fell 7.3% in September to 66.0. That is the lowest reading since the series began in 2001. Economists polled by Reuters had expected a decline of only 0.5%. Signings fell in all four regions: the West dropped 9.2% and the South 8.2%. Contracts were down 11.3% from a year earlier. Freddie Mac put the average 30-year fixed mortgage rate at 7.40% as of Oct. 15, the highest in nearly three years. Mortgage rates have followed Treasury yields higher as the war with Iran pushes up inflation. NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun said buyers and sellers appear to be waiting for rates to move in their favor. Because contracts usually close within one to two months, October and November closings are likely to be weak.

NEW YORK — The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 529.85 points, or 1.02%, to 52,495.88 on Tuesday as strong earnings and lower oil prices helped. The S&P 500 gained 0.28% to 7,712.57. The Nasdaq Composite slipped 0.02% to 26,424.82. Oil eased on reports that Washington and Tehran may be nearing a deal, though the reports conflict. The 10-year Treasury yield closed near 5.12%. CNBC reported that credit markets are less relaxed than equities. CoreWeave touched a 52-week low Monday, its bond yields stayed high and its five-year credit default swaps traded at distressed levels. Yields on Oracle debt also stayed elevated. The S&P 500 sits just below its 50-day moving average of about 7,706 to 7,743, depending on the source.

PINE ISLAND, Minn. — Google and Xcel Energy have proposed an arrangement under which the tech company would help finance 1,400 megawatts of wind, 200 megawatts of solar and 300 megawatts of battery storage to serve a planned 780-megawatt data center in Pine Island, Minnesota. Google says the package adds more capacity than the campus will use. Under the draft terms, it would pay for at least 75 percent of its contracted capacity even if it uses less. If it exits early, it would owe up to eight years of those minimum charges. CNBC reports that some experts question whether the grid buildout is needed and note that utilities earn returns on new infrastructure. NERC expects data centers to account for most projected U.S. demand growth over the next decade. The proposal still needs regulatory review.

INDIANAPOLIS — Indiana, the Hoosier Energy cooperative and Canada's AtkinsRéalis signed a memorandum of understanding on October 19 to evaluate a campus of up to eight Candu reactors totaling about 6 gigawatts. Gov. Mike Braun called it a commitment to work toward the goal, and officials acknowledged there is no explicit timeline. The study would also consider smaller gas plants to supply power ahead of the reactors, and gas-to-nuclear conversions at retired or retiring plant sites. Indiana generates roughly 27 gigawatts today, according to a state report. The Candu design has not been licensed in the United States. World Nuclear News says AtkinsRéalis filed a Notice of Intent with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in June and has submitted the first of seven planned topical reports. Energynews.pro notes a separate 960-MW AEP, X-energy and Amazon nuclear project is planned in Sullivan County.