Johnson & Johnson doled out $20 million to two Ohio counties rather than go through with its first federal opioid-related trial. The money is rather small potatoes for J&J, but it marks the “first time . . . the world’s largest maker of healthcare products agreed to settle an opioid-related lawsuit” – Bloomberg and Law360 and NYTimes and WSJ

An ISM report showing slumping global manufacturing and deeper dive into the WTO’s latest economic forecast both suggest that the now-global trade war is having an unwelcomed impact on the state of the global economy and growth – NYTimes and WSJ and Bloomberg and MarketWatch

The news sent interest in US 10-year Treasurys soaring, with yields dropping to 1.65%  – WSJ

Brutal September auto sales in the U.S. for Asian automakers also portend coming economic woes – Bloomberg

All of which made it a rough first day of October trading on Wall Street  – MarketWatch

Big win for McDonald’s in its ongoing wage-and-hour battle with California employees who sued the company claiming that it was ultimately responsible for its franchisee’s alleged state labor law violations – Law360

Ford announced yesterday that it’s transforming its operations in India into a joint venture with Indian automaker Mahindra & Mahindra, which will take control of Ford’s assembly plants near Chennai and Sanand as part of the deal – NYTimes

E-brokerage giant Charles Schwab will no longer charge investors engaging in online trading, a dramatic move that “rattled online brokers that have been squeezed by investors’ expectation that fees for financial services should below or even nonexistent” – WSJ and Bloomberg

Morgan Stanley, Mitsubishi Int’l, and Belvedere Trading have reached settlements totaling $3 million with the CFTC over spoofing allegations, though none admitted or denied the behavior – Law360

Fallout from a recent 4-year ban on elite US running coach Alberto Salazar moved beyond the track this week on news that Salazar briefed top Nike officials—including CEO Mark Parker—on “his experiments to manipulate the use of performance-enhancing drugs for track and field athletes” and even used Nike labs for some of his work – WSJ and NYTimes

General Motors has idled its Silao, Mexico-based pickup-truck factory thanks to a parts shortage stemming from the now 3-week-long strike by United Auto Workers at GM plants in the US – WSJ

A bit of 90s horror nostalgia goes a long way, apparently (in the Michigan real estate realm, at least) – MarketWatch