MORNING NEWS

BlackRock's assets increased to a record $15.5 trillion in the third quarter, up 15% from a year earlier, benefitting from strong client inflows. BlackRock took in $205 billion of new client money during the third quarter, beating a $192 billion FactSet estimate.

Roche Holding struck a deal with China’s Rona Therapeutics to license worldwide rights to an experimental therapy for obesity and metabolic diseases for up to $1.16 billion, moving to bolster its portfolio with a new weight-loss approach. Under the agreement, Shanghai-based Rona will get upfront and near-term payments of up to $100 million and be eligible to receive an extra $1.06 billion subject to reaching development, regulatory and commercial goals, as well as royalties on potential sales, Rona said Tuesday.

French luxury giant LVMH said sales growth slowed, putting the brakes on a long-awaited recovery in Europe’s struggling luxury-goods industry. The Paris-based group, owner of a stable of fashion, jewelry and champagne brands that constitutes a bellwether for the wider sector, made sales of 18.50 billion euros ($20.72 billion) between July and September, it said Monday.

One of the biggest Chinese automakers is setting up shop north of the U.S. border. Chinese automaker Geely plans to begin selling vehicles to Canadian customers next year, the company said Friday. Geely, one of the largest carmakers in the world by sales, has begun establishing a retail and service network in the country and plans to introduce its first vehicles to Canadian consumers in 2027.

The construction chemicals group Sika is taking over the British Azpects Group, thereby expanding its landscaping business.

Samsung Electronics expects operating profit to exceed $80 billion for the first time this quarter, continuing its streak of record profits. The world’s largest memory chip manufacturer continues to benefit from the artificial intelligence boom. Operating profit for the three months ending in September is forecast to increase nearly ninefold year-over-year to 107.4 trillion won—equivalent to about $80.18 billion—the company confirmed.

LG Electronics forecast third-quarter operating profit well below market estimates amid lingering business uncertainties, sending shares tumbling, though continued earnings improvement keeps the South Korean consumer-electronics giant on course for a recovery this year.

Boeing has been awarded a contract from Lockheed Martin worth approximately $14.7 billion to increase production of PAC-3 Missile Segment Enhancement (MSE) seeker heads. Boeing stated that this non-binding contract will enable the company to triple production of PAC-3 MSE seeker heads under its existing seven-year master agreement with the Department of Defense.

Akzo Nobel AKZA has agreed to sell its decorative paints business in Southeast Asia to Nippon Paint 4612 at an enterprise value of $1.35 billion. The Dutch paint company said Monday that net cash proceeds after taxes and minority partners are expected to be about $1 billion.

Nike NKE is planning to be a smaller company. After two straight quarters of falling revenue, Nike said it expects sales to keep declining this fiscal year and it will shrink its operations, cut jobs and merge regional businesses to adjust. “This work will result in fewer roles across Nike,” Chief Executive Elliott Hill wrote in a memo to employees.