Canadian jet-maker Bombardier said it would sell a controlling stake in its 100- to 150-seat C-series jetliner to European manufacturer Airbus, just weeks after the Commerce Department moved to impose 300 percent tariffs on the plane. The companies also said they will expand the plane's production to a new facility in Mobile, Ala., a move that could help it avoid the import duty.
Nordstrom called off a months-long attempt to go private. Members of the Nordstrom family — who together own 31 percent of the retail icon — announced this summer that they were looking to buy the remainder of the $7 billion company and take it private. But since then, the family was reported to have faced challenges in financing.
Capital Business
District tech incubator 1776 merged with a Philadelphia-based co-working space called Benjamin's Desk. The new company will be branded 1776 and have separate headquarters in Philadelphia and the District. When it was founded in 2013 with the help of a $200,000 grant from the D.C. government, the incubator agreed to stay in the District for five years.
Earnings
Netflix scored its best third quarter on record, the video streaming service said, its shows attracting 4.45 million customers abroad and 850,000 in the United States. Net income more than doubled to $130 million, or 29 cents a share, and revenue grew 30 percent to $2.99 billion, beating estimates.
Wall Street rivals Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley topped analysts' third-quarter expectations despite an industry-wide decline in bond trading. Goldman's private equity investments helped fuel its earnings, while Morgan Stanley's wealth management unit delivered record revenue and profit margins. Both reported higher investment banking revenue than the period a year ago and kept a lid on expenses relative to revenue.
UnitedHealth Group, the largest U.S. health insurer, reported that third-quarter net earnings rose 26.3 percent. It projected earnings will grow 13 to 16 percent in 2018 as medical costs remain low, and it expects to benefit from new insurance products backed by President Trump.
Economy
The number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits dropped to its lowest level in more than 44½ years, pointing to a rebound in job growth after a hurricane-related decline in employment last month. The week ended Oct. 14 marked the 137th week in a row that claims were below the 300,000 threshold, which is associated with a robust labor market.
NAFTA talks ended their fourth round with sharp exchanges between the negotiators for the United States, Canada and Mexico. Despite the harsh words, the three ministers agreed to spread out the rounds of talks and extend them through the end of March.
Washington
Joseph Simons, a longtime expert in competition law, will be nominated to head the Federal Trade Commission, the White House announced.
The Supreme Court agreed to hear a dispute between the federal government and Microsoft about the privacy of emails stored on servers overseas. It was the second important case on digital privacy accepted by the court; the first involves whether police need a warrant to access cellphone location data.
The Senate approved the Republican-backed budget, a major step for the party's effort to enact tax cuts. The budget's passage will allow the GOP to pass tax legislation through the Senate with 50 or more votes, removing the need for Democratic support.
Transitions
George Soros has transferred the bulk of his fortune to the Open Society Foundations, officials announced. By moving about $18 billion of his money into Open Society over the past few years, he made it the second-largest foundation in the United States.
Kenneth Chenault, one of the United States' most prominent black business executives and a longtime chairman and chief executive of American Express, said he will retire next year. Chenault, 66, guided the company through several seismic events, including the 9/11 terrorist attacks and the Great Recession of 2008.
Arthur Cinader, founder of J. Crew, died at 90 from complications from a fall. He created a powerful brand, though never a financial juggernaut, based on a preppy aesthetic and named for the sport of rowing he admired for its Ivy League associations.
