Weekend roundup

Here’s what you missed while you were living your best life:

• 📉 Goldman lowered the odds of a US recession. The bank now sees the chances of a downturn at 20%, from 25% previously. Its decision was largely prompted by positive data from July and August.

• 🚆 The Tokyo Metro is hoping to IPO at a $4.7 billion valuation. Japan’s national and Tokyo governments are reportedly preparing to list the subway operator as early as the end of October, in what would be the country’s biggest IPO since 2018.

• 🤒 Philippines detected its first mpox case this year. The Filipino man who was diagnosed with the virus had no travel history outside the country.

Featured weekend story

7-Eleven owner to review takeover bid from Canada’s Couche-Tard

The owner of 7-Eleven, Seven & i, says it has received a preliminary takeover offer from Canada’s Alimentation Couche-Tard, making it the largest-ever Japanese target of a foreign buyout. News of the offer sent shares in Seven & i up by almost 23% in Tokyo.

Reuters reports that talks are at a very early stage and the proposal is to buy the whole company, citing two sources familiar with the matter. Seven & i has put together a special committee to review the proposal, and says no decision has been made yet.

A deal for the whole company would be the biggest ever buyout of a Japanese firm by an overseas company, according to LSEG data. The current record holder is the $18 billion Bain-led deal for Toshiba’s memory chip business in 2018.

Couche-Tard has been on the M&A warpath in recent years. Last year it bought a portfolio of TotalEnergies gas stations in Europe for $3.3 billion. A $20 billion bid for Carrefour, Europe’s biggest food retailer, was rejected by the French government in 2021.

What to watch this week

Markets kick off the week more measured after last week’s fiesta that left the S&P 500 close to a record high. US equity futures are broadly flat as investors look ahead to Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s remarks on Friday.

Indices at 12:00 AM (ET)

Here are your upcoming market events:

• 📄 Fed minutes. We get the account of July’s meeting on Wednesday. A September cut is priced in. The question now is: how big?

• 🏛️ Powell speaks. More possible clues on Friday when the Fed chair gives his keynote speech at Jackson Hole.

• 🏭️ PMIs. We’ll get a snapshot of economic activity with readings from the US, UK, and Europe.

Off-balance sheet items

Here’s what we’re reading this week:

• 🧠 Why people procrastinate, and how to overcome it (Scientific American). To stop putting off tasks, think about the positive.

• 😷 Will mpox trigger another pandemic? (AP). The World Health Organization has declared mpox to be a global emergency. Here’s a look at how likely it is to spread further.

• 💼 The business consulting industry is being disrupted, and nothing can stop it (Inc). Consulting firms, agencies, and independent consultants face industry disruption. Risks exist, but so do opportunities.

Chart of the week

The bottom line

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