It is fitting that the final trading day of the month falls on Halloween, as this month has been full of both tricks and treats. Broad equity indices continued to grind higher to start the month despite the government shutdown. There was a pickup in M&A activity including the largest LBO in history, the biggest regional bank deal of the year and the first bidding war in healthcare in recent memory (which came later in the month). It was also the start of what seemed to be a never-ending stream of AI deal/partnership announcements. However, there were some credit concerns starting to percolate in the background after bankruptcies by auto parts company, First Brands, and subprime auto lender, Tricolor Holdings.

Expand article