Business & Markets

NEW YORK — Live Nation has amended its court-required disclosure about how its Justice Department antitrust settlement was reached. The October 21 filing says President Trump briefly appeared at the March 5 White House meeting where terms were finalized, but took no part in substantive settlement talks. It also says Trump phoned CEO Michael Rapino in February about the Kennedy Center and asked about the status of the DOJ lawsuit; the company says no settlement terms were discussed. Live Nation says its June disclosure was complete and made the amendment out of caution after an August ruling in the HPE-Juniper case. U.S. District Judge Arun Subramanian has yet to rule on the settlement under the Tunney Act. He also has not ruled on the remedies sought by non-settling states, which won an April jury verdict that included a Ticketmaster divestiture request.

AMSTERDAM — Private equity firm EQT has agreed to acquire Qiagen, the diagnostics and sample-preparation company, in an all-cash deal valuing it at about €10.8 billion. The offer of €46.50 per share is 40.3% above Qiagen's unaffected share price. Both of Qiagen's boards unanimously back the offer after a strategic review that included talks with strategic and financial buyers. The takeover is conditional on acceptance by holders of more than 50% of the shares plus one, along with regulatory clearances, and is expected to close in mid-2027. EQT's plan includes post-closing measures that would give it full ownership of the business. Qiagen has faced revenue and margin pressure recently, and the boards said it would be better placed to pursue growth as a private company.

SAN FRANCISCO — Salesforce agreed to acquire customer-engagement platform Braze for about $5.66 billion, paying $47.50 in cash per share. Braze stock rose more than 51% on the news. Salesforce said the transaction needs shareholder and regulatory approvals and is expected to close in its fiscal 2028. The purchase follows Salesforce's agreement months ago to buy AI customer-service platform Fin for about $3.6 billion, part of an effort to strengthen its AI-agent offerings for corporate clients. Braze, which sells tools that help brands message customers across channels, would add to Salesforce's marketing and customer-data products. Terms of the deal and the long timeline leave room for regulatory review.

Google is testing a way to verify a Business Profile by uploading a photo of a government-issued ID, Search Engine Roundtable reported on Oct. 20. The method would be added to the existing options of phone or text, email, live video call and postcard. Google has not announced the test, and it is not clear how widely it is live or what it would cover. Verification is the main gate against fake and hijacked listings, and Google has been tightening enforcement. Earlier this year Search Engine Roundtable reported that repeat policy violations bring longer restrictions, and that Google's systems sometimes pause or remove reviews flagged as suspicious. A separate report said review appeals are again backed up because of high volume. The ID test is one more sign Google wants stronger proof of who stands behind a listing.

A randomized field experiment by researchers at the Indian School of Business and Carnegie Mellon found that AI Overviews cut outbound organic clicks by 38% on the queries where they appeared. Zero-click searches rose from 54% to 72%, according to Search Engine Journal's account of the working paper. The sample was about 1,000 desktop Chrome users. Local-service searches look different. Whitespark's 2026 ranking-factors research, as reported by Entrepreneur, found AI Overviews on 15% of traditional local-intent queries, against 93% for Local Packs. Search Engine Roundtable reported Oct. 2 that Google is testing tracking parameters on links inside AI Overviews. If rolled out, that would let site owners separate AI Overview clicks from ordinary organic clicks in their analytics.

OTTAWA — The Bank of Canada is widely expected to raise its overnight rate by a quarter point to 2.50% on Wednesday, its first increase in a year. Markets priced about an 81% chance, according to investingLive. A Reuters poll of 34 economists taken Oct. 21-23 found 19 expecting a hike. That is a sharp reversal from the prior poll, in which most expected no move this year, and it followed Governor Tiff Macklem's signal that inflation forecasts would be revised higher. Canadian inflation was 3.1% in September. Not everyone is convinced: RBC Economics said it has very low conviction on a move this week and sees a December or January hike as almost as likely, while TD cited limited breadth in inflation. The Reserve Bank of New Zealand is also expected to hike Wednesday. In Australia, markets put the chance of a Reserve Bank hike next Tuesday above 60%, ABC reported.

WASHINGTON — The average 30-year fixed mortgage rate eased to 7.32% in Freddie Mac's survey for the week of Oct. 22. That is down slightly from the prior week and below the 7.4% reached earlier in the month, when rates had risen seven straight weeks. The 10-year Treasury yield, which mortgage pricing tends to follow, finished Friday at 5.00% and slipped to about 4.97% on Monday. Last Thursday it had its biggest one-day drop in nearly four years as AI-related stock worries drove buyers into bonds. Business Recorder, relaying wire reporting, said CME FedWatch puts the odds of a Fed hike of at least 25 basis points at its meeting this week at 9.4%, down from 70.9% a month ago. The Fed's target range is 3.75% to 4.00%, and pricing for a December increase remains substantial.

TOKYO — Asian equities were mostly weaker on Monday after Wall Street's Friday retreat, with South Korea's Kospi among the weakest. Seoul is often watched as a gauge of the AI trade. CNBC said Japan's Nikkei 225 had closed Friday at 62,693.16, and Hang Seng futures pointed to a level near Friday's 23,093.37 close. Japan's broader Topix gained early while the Nikkei wavered. ABC Australia's live tracker showed the ASX 200 at 8,795 points at Friday's close and about 0.2% lower on Monday, Shanghai down roughly 0.6% and spot gold near $3,996 an ounce. Investors are watching decisions this week from the Fed, European Central Bank and Bank of Japan, with the Fed, ECB and BOJ all expected to hold. China's Fifth Plenum meeting is also in view. The Dow closed Friday at 52,215.16 and the S&P 500 at 7,623.68.

HOUSTON — Kinder Morgan said on Oct. 21 that it has made final investment decisions on two natural-gas pipeline joint ventures, committing $4.7 billion as its share. It cited rising demand from power plants, data centers and LNG exporters. The Southeast Connector, run through Southern Natural Gas, would carry up to 2.6 billion cubic feet per day over about 470 miles to Southeast markets. Kinder Morgan's share is about $3.1 billion, and phased service is slated to begin in the fourth quarter of 2030, pending regulatory approvals. The Permian Link, with NGPL, would move roughly 2.8 Bcf/d about 434 miles from Pecos County, Texas, to NGPL's Midcontinent system. Its total cost is estimated at $4.2 billion, with Kinder Morgan's share about $1.6 billion, and service is expected in the third quarter of 2030. The additions lift the company's backlog to $14.4 billion, of which $13.2 billion is gas projects.

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Transportation announced on Oct. 19 that it is awarding $2.3 billion in Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvements grants to 105 freight and passenger projects in 45 states and the District of Columbia. The Federal Railroad Administration picked them from a record 368 applications, which sought $12.2 billion in total. State, local and private partners will add more than $1.9 billion. This is the last CRISI round funded by the 2021 infrastructure law's advance appropriations. Short-line railroads won 87 of the awards, worth $1.885 billion, according to their trade association. The largest grants include about $249 million for a 32-mile Alaska Railroad line to Port MacKenzie, $218 million to extend Hiawatha passenger service in Wisconsin, $204.8 million for the Coos Bay line in Oregon and $130 million for Springfield, Massachusetts. Secretary Sean Duffy said the package would deliver safety upgrades and boost local economies.