Raphael Stevens

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    India’s IPO boom is good news for its economy

    Mumbai was built on the proceeds of a stockmarket boom. During the American civil war, money rushed into the city, then known as Bombay, as merchants sought alternative sources of cotton to the blockaded southern states. The boom spread from textiles to railways, to link cotton-growing districts with the coast, and to land-reclamation companies, to fill the gaps between the city’s seven islands. New land provided newly flush brokers with space for new houses. The frenzy ended, but many of the companies endured. More

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    Fiserv stock craters 44% for worst day ever after company slashes guidance

    Fiserv shares closed out their worst day ever after the fintech company slashed full-year guidance.
    “Our current performance is not where we want it to be nor where our stakeholders expect it to be,” wrote CEO Mike Lyons in a release.
    Fiserv added three new board members and announced a new CFO and co-presidents.

    Cheng Xin | Getty Images News | Getty Images

    Fiserv’s stock plummeted 44% Wednesday, closing out its worst day ever after the fintech company cut its earnings outlook and shook up some of its leadership team.
    “Our current performance is not where we want it to be nor where our stakeholders expect it to be,” wrote CEO Mike Lyons in a release.

    For the full year, Fiserv now expects adjusted earnings of $8.50 to $8.60 a share for the year, down from a previous forecast of $10.15 and $10.30. Revenues are expected to grow 3.5% to 4%, versus a prior estimate of 10%.
    During an earnings call Wednesday, Lyons said Argentina’s deteriorating economic environment contributed to slowing growth and margin disappointment. Last year, the South American country contributed 10 percentage points to its 16% organic growth rate, he said.
    Fiserv’s original growth estimate “assumed that to compensate for the slowdown, our non-Argentinian businesses would grow significantly faster than their historical mid-single-digit range,” he said.
    Adjusted earnings came in at $2.04 per share, falling short of the LSEG estimate of $2.64. Revenues rose about 1% from a year ago to $4.92 billion, missing the $5.36 billion forecast. Net income grew to $792 million from $564 million in the year-ago period.
    Along with the results, Fiserv announced a slew of executive and board changes.

    Read more CNBC tech news

    Beginning in December, operating chief Takis Georgakopoulos will serve as co-president with Dhivya Suryadevara, recent CEO of Optum Financial Services and Optum Insight at UnitedHealth Group. Fiserv also promoted Paul Todd to finance chief.
    “We also have opportunities in front of us to improve our results and execution, and I am confident that these are the right leaders to help guide Fiserv to long-term success,” Lyons wrote in a separate release.
    Fiserv also announced that Gordon Nixon, Céline Dufétel and Gary Shedlin would join its board at the beginning of 2026, with Nixon serving as independent chairman of the board. Shedlin is slated to lead the audit committee.
    The Milwaukee, Wisconsin-based company also announced an action plan that Lyons said would better situate the company to “drive sustainable, high-quality growth” and reach its “full potential.”
    Fiserv said it will move its stock from the NYSE to the Nasdaq next month, where it will trade under the ticker symbol “FISV.”
    Fiserv did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment. More

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    Fed cuts rates again, but Powell raises doubts about easing at next meeting

    By a 10-2 vote, the central bank’s Federal Open Market Committee lowered its benchmark overnight borrowing rate to a range of 3.75%-4%.
    In addition to the rate move, the Fed announced that it would be ending the reduction of its asset purchases – a process known as quantitative tightening – on Dec 1.
    The statement reiterated concerns that policymakers have over the labor market, saying that “downside risks to employment rose in recent months.”

    US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell speaks during a press conference at the end of a Monetary Policy Committee meeting in Washington, DC, on Oct. 29, 2025.
    Jim Watson | AFP | Getty Images

    The Federal Reserve on Wednesday approved its second straight interest rate cut, though Chair Jerome Powell rattled markets when he threw doubt on whether another reduction is coming in December.
    By a 10-2 vote, the central bank’s Federal Open Market Committee lowered its benchmark overnight borrowing rate to a range of 3.75%-4%. In addition to the rate move, the Fed announced that it would be ending the reduction of its asset purchases – a process known as quantitative tightening – on Dec 1.

    Governor Stephen Miran again cast a dissenting vote, preferring the Fed move more quickly with a half-point cut. Kansas City Fed President Jeffrey Schmid joined Miran in dissenting but for the opposite reason – he preferred the Fed not cut at all. Miran is an appointee of President Donald Trump, who has pushed hard on the committee to lower rates quickly.
    The rate also sets a benchmark for a variety of consumer products such as auto loans, mortgages and credit cards.
    The post-meeting statement did not provide any direction on what the committee’s plans are for December. At the September meeting, officials indicated the likelihood of three total cuts this year. The Fed meets once more in December.

    Powell, however, cautioned against assuming that a rate cut is a sure thing at the next meeting.
    “In the committee’s discussions at this meeting, there were strongly differing views about how to proceed in December,” Powell said during his post-meeting news conference. “A further reduction in the policy rate at the December meeting is not a foregone conclusion. Far from it.”

    He later added that there is “a growing chorus” among the 19 Fed officials to “at least wait a cycle” before cutting again. Traders lowered odds for a December cut to 67% from 90% a day ago, according to the CME Group’s FedWatch.
    Stocks, which had been higher after the initial decision was released, turned lower on the chair’s comments. Major averages slowly came back during the session with reporters.
    The reduction came even though the Fed essentially has been flying blind lately on economic data.
    Other than the consumer price index release last week, the government has suspended all data collection and reports, meaning such key measures as nonfarm payrolls, retail sales and a plethora of other macro data is unavailable.
    In the post-meeting statement, the committee acknowledged the uncertainty accompanying the lack of data, qualifying the way it categorized broad economic conditions.
    “Available indicators suggest that economic activity has been expanding at a moderate pace. Job gains have slowed this year, and the unemployment rate has edged up but remained low through August; more recent indicators are consistent with these developments,” the statement said. “Inflation has moved up since earlier in the year and remains somewhat elevated.”
    Each of those characterizations represented tweaks from the September statement. The most significant change was the view on broad economic activity. In September, the FOMC said activity had moderated.
    The statement reiterated concerns that policymakers have over the labor market, saying that “downside risks to employment rose in recent months.”
    Even before the shutdown, evidence had begun to build that while layoffs have been contained, the pace of hiring had flattened. At the same time, inflation has held considerably above the Fed’s 2% annual goal. The CPI report last week, released because of its importance to Social Security cost-of-living adjustments, showed the annual rate at 3%, pushed by higher energy costs as well as several items with direct or indirect links to Trump’s tariffs.
    The Fed tries to strike a balance between full employment and stable prices. Officials lately, though, have said they see a slightly higher risk posed by the jobs picture. Along with the interest rate decision, the Fed said its process of reducing the amount of bonds it holds on the central bank’s $6.6 trillion balance sheet will end.
    The program, also known as QT, had shaved some $2.3 trillion off the Fed’s portfolio of Treasurys and mortgage-backed securities. Instead of reinvesting maturing proceeds from the securities, the Fed has been allowing them to roll off the balance sheet at a limited level each month. However, recent signs of some tightening in short-term lending markets have raised concern that the roll-off has gone far enough.
    An implementation note accompanying the decision indicated the Fed will be rolling proceeds from maturing mortgage securities into shorter-term bills.
    Markets recently had begun anticipating that the Fed would end QT either in October or by the end of the year. The Fed expanded its holdings during the Covid crisis, pushing the balance sheet from just over $4 trillion to close to $9 trillion. Powell has said that while the Fed found it necessary to shrink its holdings, he did not foresee a return to pre-pandemic levels.
    In fact, Evercore ISI analyst Krishna Guha said he could foresee a scenario where the Fed actually restarts the purchases early in 2026 for “organic growth purposes” as market conditions shift. The Fed rarely eases monetary policy during economic expansions and bull markets in stocks. Major averages, though volatile, have been posting a series of record highs, boosted by further gains in Big Tech stocks and a robust earnings season.
    History has shown that the market continues to rise when the Fed does cut under such circumstances. However, easier policy also poses the risk of higher inflation, a condition that forced the Fed into a series of aggressive rate hikes.
    Correction: This story has been updated to correct that Jeffrey Schmid is president of the Kansas City Fed, and that the Fed raised interest rates following an inflation spike. More

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    There were two Fed dissenters: Miran wanted a bigger cut and Schmid voted for no easing at all

    Federal Reserve Governor Stephen Miran speaks with CNBC during the Invest i America Forum on Oct. 15, 2025.
    Aaron Clamage | CNBC

    There were two dissenters from the Federal Reserve’s decision to lower the federal funds rate by a quarter percentage point on Wednesday, in two different directions.
    Federal Reserve Governor Stephen Miran instead called for a half-point cut, while Kansas City Fed President Jeffrey Schmid voted for no decrease.

    “The decision to lower interest rates by 25bps in October was never in doubt, but the unexpected hawkish dissent from a regional Fed president highlights that future moves are becoming more contentious,” said Michael Pearce, deputy chief U.S. economist at Oxford Economics. “We expect the Fed to slow the pace of cuts from here.”
    Heather Long, chief economist at Navy Federal Credit Union, called two dissents “unusual,” particularly because one wanted a deeper cut and the other wanted no change.

    Kansas City Federal Reserve President Jeffrey Schmid speaking at Jackson Hole on Aug. 22, 2024.
    David A. Grogan | CNBC

    “[Fed Chair Jerome] Powell will have to use all of his leadership skills to keep Fed leaders moving in the same direction in the months to come,” she said.
    It is the second dissent in a row for Miran, who was the sole dissenter during September’s meeting when he called for a half-point rate cut there too. The central bank instead decreased the federal funds rate by 25 basis points, or a quarter percentage point.
    Miran joined the Fed in September after being appointed by President Donald Trump and confirmed by the Senate. Schmid voted for the rate decrease in September, despite expressing some doubt about lowering interest rates during a CNBC interview in late August. More

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    How a lapse in SNAP benefits could affect consumers and retailers

    Funding for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program food aid could lapse within days if the government shutdown persists.
    A lapse in the funding would be devastating for millions of U.S. families and would have ripple effects across the economy, from small grocers to big chains.
    Walmart, Dollar General and Kroger are among the companies that most rely on spending from SNAP beneficiaries.

    A man holds a sign reading “SNAP Feeds Families,” as food aid benefits will be suspended starting November 1 amid the ongoing U.S. government shutdown, during “A Rally for SNAP” on the steps of the Massachusetts Statehouse in Boston, Massachusetts, U.S., October 28, 2025.
    Brian Snyder | Reuters

    Nearly 42 million Americans are days away from missing their monthly food stamp check as the government shutdown enters its 28th day.
    The Trump administration has said funds for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, will not be distributed if the federal government is still shut down on Nov. 1. With little movement toward a resolution on Capitol Hill, Congress appears set to blow past that deadline.

    The expiration of aid would have a devastating effect on millions of households already struggling to afford food, and force people across the country to seek help at food banks. The lapse in that spending would also have a ripple effect on the economy, from small grocers to massive chains like Walmart and even retailers that sell discretionary merchandise.
    There will be “an immediate effect on the purchasing mix” toward lower profit margin groceries and household staples, and the potential for more theft as food budgets dry up, Wolfe Research analyst Spencer Hanus wrote in a note to investors Monday. Consumer confidence among lower-income Americans could also take a hit heading into the holiday season, Hanus said.
    SNAP recipients received an average of about $187 per month in fiscal 2024, according to government data. Among those beneficiaries, 73% live below the poverty line, which is currently $32,150 or less for a family of four.
    Following years of high food inflation and other recent hits to the size of government benefits, the loss of that assistance would be a massive blow to many low-income Americans.
    Consumers who use SNAP benefits to pay for groceries spend more, and shop more often, than other shoppers, according to data from Numerator. 

    On average, a SNAP beneficiary spends $832 per month on groceries, 20% more than a non-SNAP shopper, though the amount spent on each trip averages 12% less, or about $20.80 per outing, the market research company said. SNAP shoppers visit more retailers per month at 6.6, compared to 6.1 for people who don’t receive the aid, according to Numerator.
    Hanus said his firm is seeing Google search interest for “food banks” and “food stamps” surge as SNAP beneficiaries look for alternatives. While there is often a spike in interest in those terms around Thanksgiving, he said “it is up materially year over year, implying that this consumer is feeling a shock here.”
    The potential loss of aid from the shutdown is the second recent hit to government food assistance programs for lower-income Americans. The One Big Beautiful Act legislation passed by Republicans this year cuts SNAP benefits by an estimated 20%.
    Hanus estimates the spending changes in the bill equate to a 1.5% to 2% hit to retail industry sales.

    The retailers most reliant on SNAP benefit spending

    A person shops at a Dollar General store on May 28, 2025 in Chicago, Illinois.
    Scott Olson | Getty Images

    While there are different ways to consider how a lapse in SNAP benefits could impact retailers, grocers will likely take a hit. And the effects could reach employees.
    “Often, grocers’ staffing and inventory are planned around benefit cycles, so a lapse could lead to reduced employee hours, perishable food losses, and declining sales,” industry group the National Grocers Association said in a statement. “Furthermore, when benefits are restored, the resulting surge in demand could strain supply chains nationwide.”
    Numerator data shows Walmart, Dollar General and Dollar Tree are more likely to cater to SNAP shoppers, while Target, Costco and Amazon-owned Whole Foods are less likely. Hanus estimates a high-single digit percent of Walmart’s sales are related to SNAP, while Dollar General and Dollar Tree are in the mid-single digits.
    But SNAP users spend the most annually on groceries at Walmart, followed by Kroger and Costco, according to Numerator.

    Customers enter a Walmart store on April 09, 2025 in San Leandro, California.
    Justin Sullivan | Getty Images News | Getty Images

    Walmart is the country’s largest retailer, and its largest grocer. It also captures significantly more SNAP grocery spending than competitors, Numerator found. More than 94% of SNAP shoppers have bought food there in the past year, with an average annual spend of $2,653, or 26% of the cohort’s annual grocery spending.
    Just under half, or 48.8%, of all SNAP recipients shopped at Kroger in the past year, spending an average $1,687.67 annually, or 8.6% of the group’s total yearly grocery spend.
    While it requires a membership to shop, Costco takes the third spot for where SNAP users buy groceries by average annual spend at $1,482.98. Walmart-owned membership club Sam’s Club captures the fourth spot for share of spend at 3.8% and does offer discounted memberships for new members who verify participation on a government assistance plan.
    Walmart referred CNBC to the National Retail Federation, which said cutting off funding for food aid “creates a crisis for millions of American families.” Albertsons referred CNBC to the Food Industry Association, which called on Congress to reopen the government and “ensure that these vital programs remain dependable for those who have to rely on them to get them through a difficult time.”
    Costco declined to comment. Kroger, Dollar General, Dollar Tree, Amazon and Whole Foods did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
    In all, 3.6% of U.S. in-store grocery trips paid using the government’s SNAP or Women, Infants and Children benefits in 2025 through September, which is down from 3.9% in 2024, according to Numerator. That share has fallen from the pandemic peak of 6.5% in November 2021, when there was an additional emergency allotment. 
    However, more grocery trips are funded with SNAP benefits now than pre-pandemic, when between 2.2% and 2.8% of groceries were purchased under the program in all of the months between February 2019 and February 2020.

    The impact beyond grocery

    If SNAP funding expires, recipients may buy less of other goods, too.
    “Fewer dollars in the consumers’ wallet forces a reallocation of discretionary dollars towards food and more tepid spending overall,” said Wells Fargo equity analyst Edward Kelly in a note to investors last week. He noted that retailers reporting earnings in November may say they have seen weaker discretionary spending during that month due to the food assistance expiration.
    While there has never been a time when the federal government has not come up with a contingency for SNAP funding during shutdowns, states are beginning to step in. New York Gov. Kathy Hochul is working on $30 million in aid for impacted New Yorkers. 
    Plus, missed SNAP benefits should be paid in arrears once the government reopens — though it’s unknown when that will be. 
    “We’d expect an eventual resolution of the government shutdown, which could mean a windfall for low-end consumers into peak shopping season as missed payments are made up,” Kelly said. More

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    Eli Lilly, Walmart to offer first retail pickup option for discounted vials of weight loss drug Zepbound

    Eli Lilly and Walmart said they have teamed up to boost access to the pharma giant’s weight loss drug Zepbound, allowing U.S. patients to access vials of the blockbuster injection at direct-to-consumer prices through retail locations for the first time. 
    Starting in mid-November, cash-paying patients with a prescription can purchase single-dose vials of Zepbound at discounts of 50% or more through the retailer’s nearly 4,600 pharmacy locations or via home delivery.
    Eli Lilly is working to maintain its dominance over rival Novo Nordisk in the booming market for a class of obesity and diabetes drugs called GLP-1s.

    The Eli Lilly & Co. logo at the company’s Digital Health Innovation Hub facility in Singapore, on Thursday, Nov. 14, 2024.
    Ore Huiying | Bloomberg | Getty Images

    Eli Lilly and Walmart on Wednesday said they have teamed up to expand access to the drugmaker’s weight loss drug Zepbound, allowing U.S. patients to get vials of the blockbuster injection at direct-to-consumer prices through retail locations for the first time. 
    The announcement comes as Eli Lilly works to maintain its dominance over rival Novo Nordisk in the booming market for a class of obesity and diabetes drugs called GLP-1s. It also comes as the Trump administration pressures drugmakers to make it easier for Americans to access medicines with a push for them to use direct-to-consumer models that eliminate middlemen. 

    Starting in mid-November, cash-paying patients with a prescription can purchase single-dose vials of Zepbound at discounts of 50% or more off their list price through the retailer’s locations or via home delivery. Walmart, which operates nearly 4,600 pharmacies across the U.S., will serve as the first in-store pickup pharmacy option for Zepbound vials through Eli Lilly’s direct-to-consumer cash-pay platform, LillyDirect. 
    It is LillyDirect’s first retail collaboration since it launched in January 2024, following partnerships with several telehealth companies. Eli Lilly did not provide an estimate of how much the Walmart offering will expand Zepbound’s reach. But Walmart’s nationwide footprint makes it the largest U.S. retailer, LillyDirect’s General Manager Jennifer Mazur told CNBC in an interview.
    Walmart is the fifth-largest pharmacy in the U.S., according to its total prescription dispensing revenue in 2024. The partnership could help Eli Lilly keep its competitive edge over Novo Nordisk as the Danish drugmaker works to expand access to its weight loss drug Wegovy through a deal with CVS and its pharmacy benefit manager, Caremark.
    Single-dose vials of Zepbound will cost $349 per month for the starting dose, and $499 per month for all other doses. That price point is consistent across LillyDirect’s home delivery or Walmart pickup options. 
    As to whether patients would choose pickup or delivery, Mazur said, “I think it’s all about individual people, their lifestyle and how they choose to access healthcare.”

    “Our goal really is just to meet as many people where they are and give more choice, more convenience and continue to offer people price transparency,” she continued. 
    Mazur said LillyDirect has seen “tremendous uptake” with home delivery, but noted consumers could prefer to go in person because they have an established relationship with a local pharmacist or find it more convenient to pick up prescriptions at their neighborhood pharmacy.

    LillyDirect shows progress

    LillyDirect, which launched more than a year before Novo Nordisk’s own direct-to-consumer platform, has helped Eli Lilly gain ground over its rival. 
    Direct-to-consumer sales now account for more than a third of new prescriptions of Zepbound, Mazur said. She said the company hit an inflection point after August 2024, when Eli Lilly began to offer Zepbound vials for cash payment at more than 50% below the drug’s list price.
    Mazur said Eli Lilly shares the Trump administration’s goal of making Food and Drug Administration-approved medicines more accessible and affordable for Americans. 
    “We look forward to continued collaboration with the administration to achieve our shared goals and will continue to innovate with LillyDirect,” she said. 
    President Donald Trump is working to strike drug pricing deals with pharmaceutical companies as part of his controversial “most favored nation” policy, which aims to link U.S. medicine prices to the lowest paid in other developed countries. 
    Trump has so far announced agreements with Pfizer, AstraZeneca and EMD Serono, the largest fertility drug manufacturer in the world, but not Eli Lilly. More

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    Here’s what changed in the new Fed statement

    This is a comparison of Wednesday’s Federal Open Market Committee statement with the one issued after the Fed’s previous policymaking meeting in September.
    Text removed from the September statement is in red with a horizontal line through the middle.

    Text appearing for the first time in the new statement is in red and underlined.
    Black text appears in both statements.

    Arrows pointing outwards More

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    Paramount to lay off 1,000 employees, with more cuts expected

    Paramount Skydance began the process of laying off roughly 1,000 employees on Wednesday.
    The total amount of cuts is expected to reach 2,000.
    This follows multiple rounds of layoffs at Paramount prior to the close of its merger with Skydance this summer.

    The logo and lettering of Paramount Skydance Corporation can be seen at a Paramount stand at the Media Days in Munich (Bavaria, Germany).
    Matthias Balk | Picture Alliance | Getty Images

    Paramount Skydance is slashing nearly 1,000 jobs beginning on Wednesday, just months after the close of its merger, according to a person close to the situation. The layoffs will eventually amount to 2,000 roles, the person said.
    “When we launched the new Paramount in August, we made clear that building a strong, future-focused company would require significant change – including restructuring the organization,” CEO David Ellison told employees in a memo on Wednesday morning. “As part of that process, we must also reduce the size of our workforce, and we recognize these actions affect our most important asset: our people.”

    The merger between Paramount and Skydance closed in August, weeks after receiving long-sought regulatory approval from the Federal Communications Commission.
    Shortly after the deal closed Ellison and Paramount leadership telegraphed the upcoming job cuts, and said it had identified more than $2 billion in cost synergies.
    In Wednesday’s memo, Ellison said the cuts would address “redundancies that have emerged across the organization,” as well as “phasing out roles that are no longer aligned with our evolving priorities and the new structure designed to strengthen our focus on growth.”
    “Ultimately, these steps are necessary to position Paramount for long-term success,” Ellison said in the memo. The layoffs will occur across the company, which includes CBS News, a portfolio of pay-TV networks and the film studio.
    Under Ellison’s leadership Paramount has made a series of changes and deals since the summer — including a 7-year, $7.7 billion media rights deal for TKO Group’s UFC and the acquisition of online publication The Free Press. The company has also made three takeover offers for Warner Bros. Discovery in recent weeks, CNBC previously reported.

    While it’s the first round of layoffs for the newly merged company, Paramount had been through a series of employee cuts prior to the deal close. In 2024, Paramount’s prior leadership said it would reduce its U.S.-based workforce by 15%.
    In June Paramount cut its U.S.-based staff by 3.5%, or several hundred employees, CNBC reported at the time.
    Layoffs have been hitting the media industry broadly in recent months as companies contend with the decline of the traditional pay-TV bundle and macroeconomic headwinds that have weighed on advertising revenue.
    — CNBC’s Julia Boorstin contributed to this article. More