Fiat Chrysler and France’s Peugeot are in the midst of merger talks that, if finalized, could “create a nearly $50 billion trans-Atlantic auto giant.” One option being bandied about in the “fluid” talks is an “all-share merger of equals” – WSJ and Bloomberg and NYTimes

The FOMC wraps up its October rate-setting meeting this afternoon. Despite a record-setting week for the S&P 500, Fed Chair Powell is expected to announce the central bank’s third rate cut of the year this afternoon. Here’s the skinny on why it would do so and the many challenges ahead for the central bank – WSJ and MarketWatch and Bloomberg and NYTimes

By an overwhelming margin, Parliament voted on Tuesday to back a general election on December 12th, “throwing back to the British people the bedeviling issue of how, or even if, their country should leave the European Union.”  That vote counts as something of a win for Prime Minister Boris Johnson, though “it comes with extraordinary risks” – NYTimes and WSJ and Law360

Here’s what we’re expecting from Commerce Department GDP estimates today – NYTimes

Add coal company Murray Energy to the list of 7 others that have declared bankruptcy in 2019 alone—the latest sign that despite the White House’s best efforts, market forces continue to take apart the coal industry – NYTimes and WSJ and Bloomberg and Law360

The SEC is investigating “sales and disclosure practices” at AIG unit Valic to determine whether the company’s compensation structure encouraged reps to sell higher-cost products to retirement plan participants and if it properly disclosed those incentives to retirement-plan participants—many of whom are teachers and university professors – WSJ and Bloomberg

Day 1 of Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg’s testimony in D.C. included the revelation that he knew about complaints from the 737 Max’s chief technical pilot “prior to the second crash” – NYTimes and WSJ

The Chicago Mercantile Exchange is taking emergency action to assert control over “runaway algorithms in one of the world’s biggest futures markets,” a move prompted by a massive volume of data “generated by activity in CME’s Eurodollar futures” that “strained trading systems and prompted complaints to the exchange” – WSJ

Streetwise suggests that WeWork’s recent saga is a helpful case study in why investors need to focus as much on the bottom line as on the sales line – WSJ

Famed New York steakhouse Peter Luger has displeased Pete Wells. Not the best idea – NYTimes