WSJ : Banks, Blackstone Form $63 Billion Financing Vehicle for Broadcom AI Tech

Banks, Blackstone Form $63 Billion Financing Vehicle for Broadcom AI Tech
The financing will be used to purchase AI computing infrastructure from Broadcom and lease it to Anthropic

  • Bank of America, Blackstone, Citi and Morgan Stanley are forming a $63 billion financing vehicle to buy AI infrastructure from Broadcom.
  • The special purpose vehicle will purchase Broadcom’s XPU AI accelerators and networking solutions to lease them to Anthropic.
  • Deliveries of the Broadcom artificial-intelligence computing infrastructure to the new vehicle are expected to begin next year.

A coalition of major financial institutions is lining up $63 billion in financing to purchase artificial-intelligence computing infrastructure from Broadcom AVGO 2.33%increase; up pointing triangle and lease it to Anthropic.

The firms involved in the deal — Bank of America BAC -0.08%decrease; down pointing triangle, Blackstone, Citi and Morgan Stanley — plan to form a special purpose vehicle, which will purchase Broadcom’s XPU AI accelerators and networking solutions for Anthropic to lease.

The deal is part of Broadcom’s existing strategic compute capacity agreement. Deliveries to the new special purpose vehicle are expected to begin next year.

Bank of America, Citi and Morgan Stanley are arranging the first lien portion of the financing, with Blackstone providing the committed portion of the second lien financing. Broadcom also plans to provide residual value support to the new entity equal to the first lien portion.

“Fundamentally, the need for AI compute continues to grow at an extraordinary pace,” Broadcom Chief Executive Hock Tan said. “This validates that there is capital available to finance such growth and that Broadcom is uniquely positioned to enable it.”

The deal comes hours after Anthropic publicly unveiled its filing for an initial public offering, which The Wall Street Journal reported could value the company between $1.5 trillion and $2 trillion.

WSJ : Brazilian Markets Crash After Lula’s Surprise Election Win Stuns Investors

Brazilian Markets Crash After Lula’s Surprise Election Win Stuns Investors
Investors had hoped for friendly overhauls such as spending cuts and deregulation

  • Brazilian financial assets suffered a historic rout after leftist leader Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva won the presidential election.
  • The Brazilian real slid nearly 8% on Monday, its greatest one-day decline since 1999, according to LSEG data. The country’s benchmark stock index fell 14%.
  • Investors had anticipated a victory by Flávio Bolsonaro, hoping for investor-friendly overhauls like spending cuts and deregulation.

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s surprise re-election routed stocks and other financial assets in the South American country, punishing global investors who had bet on his defeat.

The Brazilian real slid nearly 8% on Monday, its greatest one-day decline since 1999, according to LSEG data. The country’s benchmark stock index fell 14%, the worst one-day drop since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic. The index’s plunge triggered a circuit breaker, leading Brazil’s stock-exchange operator to temporarily halt trading.

Global investors had piled into Brazilian markets in recent weeks after Flávio Bolsonaro—the eldest son of former President Jair Bolsonaro—bested da Silva in the first round of the election in early October. Investors cheered Bolsonaro’s anticipated election victory, sending the Bovespa stock index to a record high on hopes he would carry out investor-friendly policies such as spending cuts and deregulation.

On Sunday, the leftist leader won 51.8% of the vote against 48.2% for Bolsonaro, electoral authorities said, with over 99% of the votes counted. He was just two days away from turning 81.


“Everyone is very surprised today,” said Chris Turner, global head of markets research at ING. “There was a strong consensus that it was going the way of Bolsonaro which was seen as positive for local assets.”

Instead of the expectation of fiscal consolidation under Bolsonaro, traders will likely take the view that Brazil will muddle through for the next four years, said Thierry Wizman, Macquarie Group global foreign-exchange and rates strategist.

Da Silva has made lavish spending promises, championed a shorter working week without a cut in pay and proposed debt relief for struggling households. He also floated free public transportation on weekends, seeking to reconnect with poorer voters who had long formed the backbone of his support.

Brazil’s government bonds sold off Monday, driving up borrowing costs.

State oil firm Petrobras’s shares fell 8% in São Paulo while shares of Brazilian financial services company XP dropped 48%.

The election also hit stocks in the U.S. and Europe with significant exposure to Brazil. In New York, shares in fintech Nu Holdings fell 17%, while e-commerce group MercadoLibre fell 7.8%.

Investors are bracing for more volatility as Bolsonaro has refused to concede. In 2022, Jair Bolsonaro also refused to accept his defeat by da Silva, which rattled some foreign investors.

How asset prices move next will likely depend on policy statements, Goldman Sachs economists said. And da Silva’s choices for cabinet posts matter, too.

“For investors, first and foremost would be who would lead the Ministry of Finance,” Goldman’s Alberto Ramos and Panteleymon Semka said.

Investors will pay attention to spending plans.

Neither political camp gave very detailed proposals on that front, said Thomas Haugaard, portfolio manager at Janus Henderson Investors.

“A thorough, transparent accounting of the fiscal cost of campaign measures/promises—and of the revisions and adjustments required for the 2027 budget—is also essential,” the Goldman economists said. “Fiscal sustainability remains the primary pricing anchor for Brazilian sovereign risk.”

The economists expect modest measures to contain primary spending growth, and higher taxes.

“The administration would likely retain its strong belief that the public sector and state-owned enterprises should remain central engines of growth and investment,” they said.

FT : Iran hosts regional powers for talks to prevent fresh escalation Senior sec

Iran hosts regional powers for talks to prevent fresh escalation
Senior security officials from Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Turkey met Iranian counterparts in Tehran on Monday

Senior officials from Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Turkey met Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on Monday to step up efforts to prevent a new round of hostilities in the US-Israeli war with Iran.

The talks in Tehran are part of a flurry of diplomacy to push for an interim deal, amid fears that a new round of the war could erupt after next week’s midterm elections in the US. The meeting is the first between the members of the so-called Mecca mutual defence agreement as a group with Iran.

Oil prices, which have been trading at months-long highs because of the heightened tensions in the region, fell back slightly on Monday, with Brent crude, the international benchmark, down under $116 a barrel in early afternoon trading in London.

Ali Bagheri Kani, deputy secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, said Saudi defence minister Prince Khalid bin Salman, Pakistani military chief Field Marshal Asim Munir and Turkey’s intelligence chief Ibrahim Kalin attended the talks. Pezeshkian was also present, local media reported.

The Saudi foreign ministry on Monday said the talks aimed to support Qatari and Pakistani mediation efforts and ‘‘de-escalate the current crisis’’.

“The kingdom emphasises the importance of opening channels for negotiation to prevent a resurgence of military escalation in the region, and to pave the way for an agreement that ends the crisis and secures peace and stability both regionally and globally,” it said in a statement.

A Qatari delegation was in Tehran on Sunday, “working in co-ordination with the US as part of ongoing efforts to de-escalate regional tensions”, another official said. Munir also visited the republic last week where he held talks with senior Iranian officials.

Qatar and Pakistan have been leading mediation efforts to broker a temporary deal between the US and Iran to fully reopen the Strait of Hormuz and get the warring parties back to the negotiating table to resume talks on a final settlement to end the war.

The mediators have been trying to build on a seven-day plan Iran presented at the UN General Assembly last month, under which it would allow shipping through the strait if the US lifts its blockade on Iranian ports and grants Tehran access to some of its frozen assets held overseas. The parties would then restart negotiations on a final deal.

But there have been few signs of progress as Washington and Tehran haggle over the sequencing and the fate of Iran’s 440kg stockpile of highly enriched uranium. The US is insisting that the stockpile, which is enriched close to weapons-grade, be transferred offshore, but Iranian officials publicly reject any such move.

Amid the deadlock, there have been reports that US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are considering launching a new intense bombing campaign against Iran.

Tehran, meanwhile, has stepped up its attacks on oil tankers in the Strait of Hormuz and vowed a ferocious response if it faces a new bombing campaign, including threats to sabotage undersea cables in the strait and target data centres in the region affiliated with the US and Israel.

Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan signed the Mecca defence pact in August. They said it was defensive and not targeted at any particular state.

Analysts viewed the agreement as recognition among regional states that they would have to play a greater role in managing relations with Iran in the wake of the US-Israeli war against the Islamic republic.

In speech on Monday at Cambridge university, Oman’s foreign minister Badr Albusaidi said the Gulf states’ goal should be to reach a non-aggression pact with Iran, saying any regional “security architecture that doesn’t include them is inherently unstable”. 

He added that the Gulf can “no longer rely upon the co-operation of external partners”, in a thinly veiled reference to its reliance on the US as its prime security guarantor, warning that the “long-term political cost has been too high”. 

“This does not mean that external partnerships should be abandoned. It is just that their role in the regional security architecture can no longer be primary,” Albusaidi said.

The talks between Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Turkey and Iran come at a critical moment for Riyadh, which faces a deepening crisis as Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen have targeted Saudi oil facilities and airports since reigniting a decade-long war in July.

The Houthi attacks caused Saudi Arabia to close Riyadh’s international airport for days and postpone Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s flagship investor conference.

Riyadh airport gradually began to reopen on Sunday, but the attacks threaten Prince Mohammed’s ambitious development plans and have added to the pressure on global energy prices.

Iran and the US had agreed to a memorandum of understanding in June to reopen the strait and hold talks on a final settlement, including a nuclear deal, but it collapsed after about two weeks, with both sides accusing the other of violating the interim agreement.

The US claims that it is in control of the strait and that oil flows have largely returned to prewar levels. But the vital waterway — through which about a fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas passed before the war — remains the main battleground between the foes and energy prices have remained high.

FT : UK needs more powers to intervene when telecoms providers fail, minister sa

UK needs more powers to intervene when telecoms providers fail, minister says
Lisa Nandy tells MPs she is concerned about the sector’s ‘financial fragility’ in the wake of broadband provider TalkTalk’s near-collapse

A UK cabinet minister has said the government should have more powers to intervene in the case of failing telecoms providers, following the near collapse of broadband provider TalkTalk. 

Culture secretary Lisa Nandy told MPs on Monday evening that she was “concerned about the [financial] fragility” of the telecoms sector, and that a “new approach to regulation” was needed to ensure there remains a supplier of last resort should companies fail.

Nandy’s call comes just weeks after she invoked an emergency protocol to enable her to override antitrust concerns over BT’s deal to buy its heavily indebted broadband rival TalkTalk, which regulators feared was on the brink of insolvency. 

The move was prompted by concerns that a disruption to TalkTalk’s services posed a “genuine risk to life and public services”. The company has 2.5mn customers.  

“There is nothing . . . that allows the government to intervene or to facilitate an intervention in that instance [if a provider fails and a new buyer can’t be found] . . . And I do believe that is a problem,” Nandy told a House of Commons legislative committee. 

“Telecoms is increasingly important to the way we live, to our national security, to our energy infrastructure, to people’s lives and people’s livelihoods, and I think we do need a new approach to regulation in this area,” she added, responding to a question about whether she would consider introducing a provision to ensure a supplier of last resort. 

The deal, which is pending final approval from Nandy, comes after years of financial difficulties for the Salford-based group.

TalkTalk, once part of Carphone Warehouse, has struggled after being taken private in a £1.1bn leveraged buyout in 2021. The deal, led by London-based hedge fund Toscafund, added £527mn of debt to its balance sheet. 

The company’s near-collapse was the latest in a series of financial difficulties for UK telecoms groups this year. Many of these are so-called alternative network providers or altnets: dozens of small broadband companies which have raised over £31bn to compete with established players including BT’s Openreach. 

However, the high cost of building out fibre broadband networks has saddled altnets with more than £9bn of net debt, according to estimates from Enders Analysis. The sector posted £1.5bn in losses in 2024, Enders said, as consumer uptake of services also fell short of expectations.  

In January, London-based altnet G.Network was placed into administration, while rural provider Gigaclear was forced into a heavy writedown of its near-£1bn debt before lenders took control of the business.

FT : EU loan to Airbus threatens trade truce with US, Trump trade official warns

EU loan to Airbus threatens trade truce with US, Trump trade official warns
Jamieson Greer says the European Investment Bank’s historic loan to the aerospace group risks ‘violating’ the US-EU aircraft deal

Donald Trump’s top trade adviser has warned that the EU’s record-breaking loan to aerospace company Airbus could upend the delicate trade truce agreed by Washington and Brussels, risking the return of a transatlantic trade war.

US trade representative Jamieson Greer accused the European Investment Bank of failing to share details about the $3.4bn loan the bloc made to Airbus in June, despite “ongoing requests”, and said he was concerned the money would introduce market distortions that could be a “violation to the terms of our hard-won . . . deal”.

“I had sincerely hoped that trade-distorting European subsidies to Airbus were a thing of the past,” said Greer. “For decades, France, Germany and Spain have aggressively supported Airbus, their national champion aircraft manufacturer, to gain an unfair advantage over US aerospace workers and business.”

A deal on state subsidies to Airbus and its US rival Boeing was reached in 2021 under former US president Joe Biden, ending one of the developed world’s longest-running trade disputes. The 17-year-long conflict led the US and EU to put tariffs on billions of dollars of each other’s goods.

The 2021 deal took the form of a five-year accord, but neither side reimposed the tariffs this past summer. The EU had referred to the truce as “indefinitely extended” as part of the broader trade deal to avert the highest levels of Trump’s tariffs.

But the June EIB loan, the largest in the lender’s history, added to a growing list of gripes about the EU from US trade officials, who are angry with European efforts to tax and regulate technology companies, as well as its corporate sustainability and supply chain regulations.

Airbus said the EIB loan was a “standard corporate financing facility” that was “necessary to manage the complexity of a high-value global production system and supply chain”.

“We are actively engaging with the relevant authorities and are happy to share more information about the loan with governments,” it said in a statement.

Brussels is keen to tamp down trade tensions while diversifying its supply chains and also wants to keep the US engaged in Ukraine. 

The US and EU had reached a deal in Turnberry, Scotland, last year to avert the worst levels of Trump’s so-called liberation day tariffs.

Following the US Supreme Court ruling against most of Trump’s tariffs earlier this year, duties on the majority of EU goods have remained at 10 per cent, although cars and car parts have been hit with a 15 per cent levy, and steel and aluminium with 50 per cent. 

Still, the trade truce is delicate, especially as European policymakers are seeking to reduce their dependence on American technology amid concerns about the unpredictability of Trump.

The US ambassador to the EU warned earlier this month that European companies could face “devastating” retaliation from Washington if Brussels pressed ahead with plans to restrict American rivals, such as Elon Musk’s SpaceX, from parts of the European market.

The EU is also being investigated as part of the USTR’s ongoing probe into industrial overcapacity, which is expected to lead to steep levies.

The tariffs on a range of countries were anticipated to be released earlier this year but have not yet been released. 

>>> JetBlue Airways plunges to record lows after creditors hire restructuring ad

JetBlue Airways plunges to record lows after creditors hire restructuring advisers
  • JetBlue (JBLU) shares are plunging to all-time lows after the Wall Street Journal reported that senior creditors hired financial adviser PJT Partners and law firm Akin, intensifying concerns about debt repayment, cash burn, and potential bankruptcy.
  • The creditor group's move suggests preparations to protect recoveries in possible financing or restructuring negotiations, with JBLU's $2 bln notes due 2031 recently falling to 42 cents on the dollar from roughly 80 cents earlier this month, although hiring advisers does not establish that a bankruptcy filing is imminent.
  • The financial squeeze is tangible: JBLU ended Q2 with approximately $8.5 bln of debt and finance lease obligations, while first-half operations consumed $35 mln of cash before $348 mln of capital expenditures and $27 mln of aircraft deposits.
  • Chapter 11 is therefore a credible risk if sustained losses and elevated fuel costs exhaust financing options, but June liquidity of $2.2 bln plus an undrawn $600 mln credit line provided a cushion, and management then projected sufficient liquidity for at least 12 months.
  • The concern is diminishing flexibility, as approximately 67% of owned property, equipment, and intangible assets were already pledged or committed as collateral, while potential credit-card processor reserve requirements could further restrict cash available for operations.
  • For the airline industry, the development highlights financing vulnerability among weaker carriers facing high fuel costs. Any eventual JBLU capacity reductions could benefit competitors' traffic and pricing, although Chapter 11 itself would not necessarily mean an operational shutdown.

>>> Whirlpool misses by $0.94, misses on revs; cuts FY26 EPS below consensus, re

Whirlpool misses by $0.94, misses on revs; cuts FY26 EPS below consensus, revs below consensus (26.45 -1.66)
  • Reports Q3 (Sep) loss of $0.21 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.94 worse than the FactSet Consensus of $0.73; revenues fell 8.8% year/year to $3.68 bln vs the $3.93 bln FactSet Consensus.
    • Q3 ongoing (non-GAAP) EBIT margin of 2.6%.
  • Co issues downside guidance for FY26, sees EPS of $(1.30), excluding non-recurring items, vs. $1.21 FactSet Consensus and vs. $2.50-3.00 prior guidance; sees FY26 revs of $14.5 bln vs. $14.81 bln FactSet Consensus and vs. $15 bln prior guidance.
  • "Our structural cost take out and pricing realization drove consecutive margin progress through Q3. While the pace of recovery is slower than expected, these actions are setting a clear path for further improvements in 2027."

>>> Celestica beats by $0.33, beats on revs; raises FY26 EPS above consensus, re

Celestica beats by $0.33, beats on revs; raises FY26 EPS above consensus, revs above consensus; guides FY27 EPS above consensus, revs above consensus (246.40 -13.61)
  • Reports Q2 (Jun) earnings of $3.30 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.33 better than the FactSet Consensus of $2.97; revenues rose 82.5% year/year to $5.83 bln vs the $4.39 bln FactSet Consensus.
  • Co issues upside guidance for FY26, sees EPS of $11.55, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $11.16 FactSet Consensus and vs. $11.30 prior guidance; sees FY26 revs of $21 bln vs. $20.6 bln FactSet Consensus and vs. $20.5 bln prior guidance.
  • Co issues upside guidance for FY27, sees EPS of $21.50, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $19.60 FactSet Consensus; sees FY27 revs of $40 bln vs. $35.84 bln FactSet Consensus.

>>> US After Hours Summary: CLS +16.0%, JBLU +11.0%, AMKR +3.5%, CTOS +3.4%, CDN

After Hours Summary: CLS +16.0%, JBLU +11.0%, AMKR +3.5%, CTOS +3.4%, CDNS +2.3%, BRX +1.8%, KFRC +1.5% higher on earnings; WHR -8.5%, AGYS -7.2%, NE -5.9%, BRO -3.6%, GBX -3.5%, DORM -2.2%, PSMT -2.1% lower on earnings

After Hours Gainers:

Companies trading higher in after hours in reaction to earnings/guidance:CLS +16.0%, JBLU +11.0%, AMKR +3.5%, CTOS +3.4%, CDNS +2.3%, BRX +1.8%, KFRC +1.5%, PSA +1.2%, CINF +1.1%

Companies trading higher in after hours in reaction to news:BRUN +7.0% (Delivered the first phase of a multi-phase AI project and secured over $600 million in non-dilutive financing year-to-date.), JAZZ +6.1% (Expects a roughly $755 million Q3 IPR&D charge from Actio acquisition, reducing quarterly EPS by about $11.), VRT +1.6% (Launched globally available SmartIT platform integrating power, liquid cooling and monitoring for high-density AI data centers.), FTK +1.5% (Received EPA approval for VeraCAL flare monitoring at petroleum refineries, opening a new compliance-monitoring market.), NPB +1.4% (Authorized a new common stock repurchase program of up to $30 million.), NMFC +1.4% (Extended its $150 million stock-repurchase program through December 2027, with about $70 million repurchased to date.), AVGO +1.2% (A new SPV secured $63 billion in committed financing to buy Broadcom AI accelerators and networking gear for Anthropic.)

After Hours Losers:

Companies trading lower in after hours in reaction to earnings/guidance:WHR -8.5%, AGYS -7.2%, NE -5.9%, BRO -3.6%, GBX -3.5%, DORM -2.2%, PSMT -2.1%, PECO -1.3%, RMBS -1.0%, WELL -1.0%

Companies trading lower in after hours in reaction to news:CLW -5.9% (CFO Sherri Baker will resign effective November 13, with no successor or reason disclosed.), LYCA -4.2% (Closed an upsized IPO of 20.286 million shares at $18 each, raising approximately $365.1 million in gross proceeds.), NTCT -1.3% (COO Sanjay Munshi resigned from all company and subsidiary positions effective immediately, with no successor named.)