MARKET WRAPS

STOCKS: Stocks rose and the Nasdaq Composite closed at an all-time high as a slide in oil prices quelled inflation concerns.

TREASURYS: Treasury yields finished mixed, with the yield on the two-year note closing at a two-year high and longer-term yields retreating.

FOREX: The U.S. dollar ticked up against rivals after Chicago Federal Reserve President Austan Goolsbee said the central bank could no longer afford to wait out energy shocks.

COMMODITIES: Oil futures fell by 4.5% in New York amid hopes for increased shipping traffic in the Strait of Hormuz and for diplomatic progress at the United Nations General Assembly meeting.

HEADLINES

Paramount Settles States' Antitrust Suit, Clearing Way for Warner

Megadeal

Paramount has reached a settlement with state attorneys general that

includes a host of concessions and investments in the U.S. entertainment

industry, clearing the way for its hard-fought $81 billion merger with

Warner Bros. Discovery that is poised to reshape Hollywood.

The settlement announced Monday stops short of forcing Paramount Chief

Executive David Ellison to make significant structural changes to the

company, but includes penalties such as the forced sale of cable channels

and Paramount's stake in Miramax if it doesn't make good on its promises.

The company behind hits like "The Godfather," "Top Gun," "South Park"

and "Yellowstone" agreed to invest at least $1.5 billion more in domestic

production over the next five years and commit funds for a

workforce-training program for the entertainment industry. While the

company didn't have to agree to remain in California as part of the

settlement, it said it would keep Warner's and Paramount's Los Angeles

studio lots for moviemaking.

OpenAI Urges Washington to Lead Global Effort to Create AI-Safety

Standards

OpenAI is asking the U.S. government to lead an effort with other

countries to develop global safety and security standards for building

cutting-edge artificial-intelligence systems.

In a proposal published Monday, the company suggested that countries

worldwide should set common measures for evaluating forthcoming

self-improving AI systems and establish secure channels to share emerging

threats.

The U.S. Center for AI Standards and Innovation could work with the

emerging network of AI safety institutes around the world-such as

existing groups in the U.K., France, and Singapore-to create the

standards, the company said.

Fed's Goolsbee Says Inflation Components Matter Just as Much as the

Overall Pace

The Federal Reserve just started raising interest rates, but the big

question now is how much longer officials will continue tightening

monetary policy. The answer, it seems, depends not only on the trajectory

of inflation, but also the composition, according to Chicago Fed

President Austan Goolsbee.

The Federal Open Market Committee raised the Fed funds range to 3.75%

to 4% at the conclusion of last week's policy meeting. The tighter

monetary policy is aimed at more speedily returning inflation to the

Fed's 2% target.

Goolsbee told reporters Monday that he supported the rate increase. He

isn't currently a voting member of the FOMC this year, but will be one

next year. The latest summary of economic projections showed that FOMC

officials see one additional rate increase on tap for this year, but no

further rate increases next year.

Trump Looks to Sideline Canadian Potash With Belarusian Supply Deal

President Trump is signaling a potential agreement to purchase

lower-priced potash from Belarus, a move that could challenge Canadian

exporters.

In a Monday post on Truth Social, Trump said he is working on a

"massive deal" aimed at lowering fertilizer costs for American farmers

and ranchers.

The proposal targets a market currently dominated by Canada, the

world's largest producer of potash, a vital fertilizer component and an

essential plant nutrient with no substitute in global food production.

Ethan Allen Launches Search for Next Chief Executive

Ethan Allen Interiors has launched a search for a new chief executive

to succeed Farooq Kathwari at the helm of the furniture maker.

Ethan Allen on Monday said it has hired an executive search firm that

is identifying and evaluating internal and external candidates, adding

that its board has committed to announcing a new CEO by June 30, 2027,

the date on which Kathwari's current contract is scheduled to end.

The move comes shortly after investor Doug Bergeron, who owns a more

than 5% stake in Ethan Allen and has launched a proxy battle for control

of the Danbury, Conn., company's board, said he had launched his own

search for a potential new CEO.

Bank of Canada Grapples With Rate Policy Amid Competing Forces, Macklem

Says

OTTAWA-A new quarterly forecast for inflation set for release next

month will tip the balance on whether the Bank of Canada needs to raise

rates to contain price increases, Gov. Tiff Macklem said.

In remarks on Monday in a speech and a press conference, he said

upside inflation risks have intensified with the war in the Middle East

showing no signs of ending. Crude oil has traded near $100 a barrel in

the past week, and inflation in Canada is set to edge upward from its

current 3% level should fuel costs remain in elevated territory, Macklem

said.

The next Bank of Canada decision is set for Oct. 28, at which time it

will also present an updated growth and inflation forecast to Canadian.

Trump's Greenland Deal Eases Way for U.S. Business on Arctic Island

The security deal over Greenland, announced by President Trump on

Friday, relieves the pressure from months of American maneuvering to

control the semiautonomous Danish territory and smooths the way for more

U.S. investments on the cash-starved but resource-rich Arctic island.

American and Greenlandic businesspeople say they hope the agreement,

which is expected to be signed this week, will ease geopolitical tension,

drive investment and remove some of the stigma many Greenlanders attach

to cooperating with the Americans.

Trump's initial interest in controlling Greenland, dating back to his

first term in office, spurred new commercial attention to the island and

its potential. But his threats to annex it by force made investors

skittish, and Greenlanders wary of American intentions.

TALKING POINT Is That a Prospective Client or an AI Deepfake? An Emerging Threat for Financial Advisors. In an era of rampant identity theft and artificial intelligence's ability to clone voices and create deepfaked videos, it is getting harder to know what is real. That is giving financial advisors something else to worry about.

Advisors undertake a series of verification steps when adding new clients-a process known as onboarding-to ensure they are who they say they are. That typically includes verifying IDs, basic personal information, and prospective clients' financial history. Some registered investment advisor firms rely on their custodian to handle identity verification. Others outsource the process to a vendor or handle it themselves.

The problem is that identity checks, including videoconferencing, can be fabricated, which has created a sense of vulnerability in the wealth management space and uncertainty among advisors about who they are dealing with.

"A video call used to be the thing that made you feel better, and now even that can be faked," says Steven Crane, founder of Financial Legacy Builders.

One advisor, who spoke on condition of anonymity to describe a sensitive, continuing situation, recounted bringing on a new client who wanted to move money from a large national brokerage firm. The prospective client seemed a perfect fit for the advisor's practice, provided the requested documentation, and passed all the identity-verification questions posed by the firm's custodian-no red flags. Then things got weird.

Fraud alert. The client seemed in a hurry to move her accounts from the brokerage firm to the advisor's RIA. She contacted the custodian to request a distribution from an IRA account, then called the custodian to reverse it, and instead asked to set up a series of $40,000 wire transfers from her advisory account. That triggered a fraud alert, prompting the custodian to freeze her accounts and notify the RIA.

--Kenneth Corbin, Barron's