Investing.com–  Building products distributor QXO Inc (NYSE:QXO) is planning to launch a hostile bid for Beacon Roofing Supply Inc (NASDAQ:BECN) by approaching shareholders directly, the Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday.

The hostile bid could be launched by as soon as Monday and will offer Beacon shareholders $124.25 per share- the same price QXO had previously offered, the WSJ report said, citing people familiar with the matter. The offer values Beacon at about $7.7 billion- higher than Beacon’s close of $118.42 on Friday, which valued the firm at around $7.3 billion. 

The move comes after QXO was rebuffed repeatedly by Beacon over a potential takeover. QXO had initially bid for Beacon in November 2024, which Beacon rejected for undervaluing the firm. 

Beacon is the largest publicly listed distributor of roofing materials, and has the potential to complement QXO’s business. QXO recently said it had secured funding for the deal, and that its offer was compelling for Beacon shareholders. 

Investing.com – U.S. stock index futures fell on Sunday evening after weekly gains on Wall Street as President Donald Trump threatened to impose retaliatory tariffs on Colombia, while investors turned cautious ahead of the Federal Reserve interest rate decision, and inflation readings due this week.

S&P 500 Futures fell 0.5% to 6,103.0 points, while Nasdaq 100 Futures declined 1.2% to 21,646.25 points by 18:45 ET (23:45 GMT). Dow Jones Futures inched 0.2% lower to 44,535.0 points.

Trump imposes tariffs, sanctions on Colombia

On Sunday, Trump announced that he would impose sanctions, and hefty tariffs on Colombia after the Latin American country refused to allow two U.S. repatriation flights carrying deported individuals to land, a directive attributed to Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro. 

Trump said he would impose a 25% tariff on all imports from Colombia, effective immediately, and would raise it to 50% next week.

In addition to the tariffs, the U.S. administration has enacted a travel ban and revoked visas for Colombian government officials and their affiliates.

In response, Colombia threatened a 50% tariff on U.S. goods. The new tariffs are anticipated to have substantial economic implications, especially for Colombian exports such as petroleum, coffee, and flowers, which heavily rely on the U.S. market.

Trump has earlier announced that tariffs on Mexico, Canada, China, and the European Union could be announced on Feb. 1.

Investors cautious ahead of Fed meeting, inflation data

Investors are exhibiting caution as they await the Federal Reserve’s upcoming policy meeting due later in the week

Fed’s preferred gauge of inflation – PCE price index data, and advance GDP estimates for the fourth quarter are due this week.

Additionally, December weekly jobless claims and January consumer confidence were also on tap.

China’s DeepSeek pressures AI stocks, major earnings awaited

In the technology sector, China’s AI startup DeepSeek has unveiled its latest model, R1, which demonstrates performance comparable to leading U.S. models like OpenAI’s ChatGPT but at a significantly reduced cost. 

This advancement poses a competitive threat to established players in the AI hardware space, notably NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA), which has seen its stock decline in response.

Nvidia stock fell more than 3% on Friday and is expected to face pressure from this announcement.

However, Wall Street recorded weekly gains last week, largely around optimism about Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX)’s stellar earnings and the announcement of the Stargate initiative.

Last week, the S&P 500 recorded 1.7% weekly gains to end at 6,101.24 points, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 2.2% for the week to 44,424.25, and the NASDAQ Composite added 1.7%.

The market is also bracing for earnings reports from major technology companies, including Meta Platforms Inc (NASDAQ:META), Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT), and Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA). These reports are expected to provide further insights into the health of the tech sector and guide investor sentiment in the coming days.

Investing.com– Natural gas firm Diversified Energy Company PLC (NYSE:DEC) is in advanced talks to buy Maverick Natural Resources- a private equity owned firm with operations in the Permian Basin, the Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday.

The deal values Maverick at around $1.3 billion, and is Diversified Energy’s biggest buy to date, the WSJ report said. 

The move comes amid bets on increased U.S. energy production and fewer restrictions on the industry under President Donald Trump.

Trump declared a national energy emergency last week and called for a ramp-up in domestic oil and gas production, while also scaling back Biden-era climate-related curbs on the industry. 

The Permian Basin- located in the southwestern U.S.- is the country’s highest producing oil field, with output estimated at 6.3 million barrels per day in 2024- nearly half of overall U.S. production. 

(Reuters) – The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved monthly maintenance dosing for Japan’s Eisai and partner Biogen (NASDAQ:BIIB)’s Alzheimer’s drug Leqembi, the companies said on Monday.

The drug received standard U.S. approval in 2023 after showing it slowed cognitive decline in patients with the brain-wasting disease but growth has been slow, in part because its administration is time-consuming and it requires regular MRIs and screenings.

Patients can switch to a monthly dose after having received an intravenous infusion of the drug every two weeks for 18 months, the companies said in a joint statement. They can also continue to dose once every two weeks.

Leqembi clears sticky deposits of a protein called amyloid beta in the brain, believed to be a hallmark of Alzheimer’s disease. Patients receive the drug at an infusion center in almost an hour-long process.

The companies said that modeling simulations of trial data predicted that maintenance dosing would maintain benefits of the therapy.

A rival drug from Eli Lilly (NYSE:LLY), Kisunla, was approved in July and is given by infusion once a month. Patients stop taking the treatment once brain scans no longer show amyloid plaques.

Both drugs have safety warnings regarding the potential for brain swelling and bleeds. Patients are recommended to undergo monitoring with scans.

Eisai has a collaboration agreement with BioArctic on the drug.

By Jonathan Stempel

(Reuters) – Elon Musk asked a federal judge to dismiss a proposed class action by voters who said the world’s richest person defrauded them into signing a petition to support the U.S. Constitution for a chance to win his $1 million-a-day giveaway.

In a late Friday filing in the Austin, Texas federal court, Musk rejected the claim the giveaway was an illegal “lottery” that violated a Texas law against deceptive trade practices.

Arizona resident Jacqueline McAferty claimed that Musk and his political action committee America PAC falsely induced voters in seven battleground states to sign the petition by promising that winners would be chosen randomly.

Musk founded America PAC to support Republican Donald Trump’s successful 2024 presidential run.

According to Musk, however, voters were told they would be reviewed for an opportunity to earn the $1 million by becoming America PAC spokespeople.

This, Musk said, defeated any notion that the money was a “prize” to be won.

“Make no mistake: an eligible voter’s opportunity to earn is not the same thing as a chance to win,” Musk said.

Chance, he added, “was not involved here.”

Musk also rejected the suggestion that petition signers suffered harm by providing their names, addresses and phone numbers, which they said Musk and America PAC could then sell.

Lawyers for the proposed class did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Sunday.

The lawsuit was filed on Election Day, Nov. 5, 2024.

A day earlier, a Philadelphia judge refused to end Musk’s giveaway, saying that city’s top prosecutor also failed to show it was an illegal lottery.

McAferty’s lawsuit seeks at least $5 million in damages for everyone who signed the petition.

Musk is a Texas resident and his electric car company Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) is based in Austin.

The case is McAferty v Musk et al, U.S. District Court, Western District of Texas, No. 24-01346.

(Reuters) – Perplexity AI revised the merger proposal it had submitted to TikTok parent ByteDance, CNBC reported on Sunday.

The proposal, to create a new entity combining Perplexity and TikTok U.S., would now also allow for the U.S. government to own up to 50% of the new company upon a future initial public offering, CNBC said.

By Jack Kim

SEOUL (Reuters) – South Korea’s authorities investigating last month’s Jeju Air plane crash have submitted a preliminary accident report to the U.N. aviation agency and to the authorities of the United States, France and Thailand, an official said on Monday.

The investigation into the deadliest air disaster on the country’s soil remains ongoing, the report made available on Monday said, focused on the role of “bird strike” and involving an analysis of the engines and the “localiser” landing guidance structure.

“These all-out investigation activities aim to determine the accurate cause of the accident,” it said.

The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), the U.N. agency, requires accident investigators to produce a preliminary report within 30 days of the accident and encourages a final report to be made public within 12 months.

The Boeing (NYSE:BA) 737-800 jet, from Bangkok and scheduled to arrive at Muan International Airport, overshot the runway as it made an emergency belly landing and crashed into the localiser structure, killing all but two of the 181 people and crew members on board on Dec. 29.

The localiser aids navigation of an aircraft making an approach to the runway, and the structure built of reinforced concrete and earth at Muan airport supporting the system’s antennae was likely a cause of the disaster, experts have said.

The report highlighted much of the initial findings by the South Korean investigators that was shared with the families of the victims on Saturday, including the pilots discussing a flock of birds they spotted on its final approach.

The exact time of a bird strike reported by the pilots remains unconfirmed, the accident report said, but the aircraft “made an emergency declaration (Mayday x 3) for a bird strike

during a go-around.”

“Both engines were examined, and feathers and bird blood stains were found on each,” it said.

“After the crash into the embankment, fire and a partial explosion occurred. Both engines were buried in the embankment’s soil mound, and the fore fuselage scattered up to 30-200 meters from the embankment,” it said.

The report does not say what may have led to the two data recorders to stop recording simultaneously just before the pilots declared mayday. The aircraft was at an altitude of 498 ft (152 metres) flying at 161 knots (298 km/h or 185 mph) at the moment the blackboxes stopped recording, it said.

(Reuters) – Universal Music Group (AS:UMG), the world’s biggest music label, and Swedish streaming giant Spotify (NYSE:SPOT) have reached a new multi-year agreement for recorded music and music publishing, they said on Sunday.

The publishing agreement establishes a direct license between Spotify and UMG across Spotify’s current product portfolio in the U.S. and several other countries, they said in a statement.

“Artists, songwriters and consumers will benefit from new and evolving offers, new paid subscription tiers, bundling of music and non-music content, and a richer audio and visual content catalog,” the companies said.

The partnership will ensure constant innovation, making music subscriptions even more attractive to a broader worldwide audience, Spotify founder and CEO Daniel Ek said.

Spotify has laid off employees, pulled back podcasts and cut marketing spending over the past year to boost profitability. It has also raised prices of its U.S. plans to capitalize on demand for its premium products.

Investing.com – Israel stocks were higher after the close on Sunday, as gains in the Insurance, Technology and Biomed sectors led shares higher.

At the close in Tel Aviv, the TA 35 added 0.12%.

The best performers of the session on the TA 35 were NICE Ltd (TASE:NICE), which rose 6.16% or 3,510.00 points to trade at 60,480.00 at the close. Meanwhile, Ormat Technologies (TASE:ORA) added 2.63% or 610.00 points to end at 23,770.00 and Phoenix Holdings Ltd (TASE:PHOE) was up 2.04% or 120.00 points to 5,998.00 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were Shikun & Binui (TASE:SKBN), which fell 2.61% or 35.00 points to trade at 1,305.00 at the close. Camtek Ltd (TASE:CAMT) declined 2.57% or 940.00 points to end at 35,580.00 and Energean Oil & Gas PLC (TASE:ENOG) was down 1.88% or 87.00 points to 4,549.00.

Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange by 236 to 212 and 89 ended unchanged.

Crude oil for March delivery was up 0.05% or 0.04 to $74.66 a barrel. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Brent oil for delivery in April rose 0.27% or 0.21 to hit $77.55 a barrel, while the April Gold Futures contract rose 0.50% or 13.90 to trade at $2,806.60 a troy ounce.

USD/ILS was unchanged 0.00% to 3.57, while EUR/ILS unchanged 0.00% to 3.75.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.57% at 107.25.

Investing.com – Saudi Arabia stocks were higher after the close on Sunday, as gains in the Real Estate Development, Hotels & Tourism and Energy & Utilities sectors led shares higher.

At the close in Saudi Arabia, the Tadawul All Share gained 0.26% to hit a new 6-months high.

The best performers of the session on the Tadawul All Share were Kingdom Holding Company (TADAWUL:4280), which rose 9.80% or 0.91 points to trade at 10.20 at the close. Meanwhile, Al Baha Investment and Development Company SJSC (TADAWUL:4130) added 9.30% or 0.04 points to end at 0.47 and Saudi Fisheries Co. (TADAWUL:6050) was up 7.84% or 1.78 points to 24.48 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were AL JOUF CEMENT COMPANY (TADAWUL:3091), which fell 3.57% or 0.46 points to trade at 12.44 at the close. Arabian Pipes Company (TADAWUL:2200) declined 2.50% or 0.34 points to end at 13.26 and Rasan Information Technology (TADAWUL:8313) was down 1.94% or 1.80 points to 90.80.

Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Saudi Arabia Stock Exchange by 209 to 112 and 23 ended unchanged.

Crude oil for March delivery was up 0.05% or 0.04 to $74.66 a barrel. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Brent oil for delivery in April rose 0.27% or 0.21 to hit $77.55 a barrel, while the April Gold Futures contract rose 0.50% or 13.90 to trade at $2,806.60 a troy ounce.

EUR/SAR was up 0.77% to 3.93, while USD/SAR unchanged 0.00% to 3.75.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.57% at 107.25.