DealBook | Top News: Top Story | DealBook Highlights | Buzz Tracker - September 14, 2016

Top Story

Bayer Secures Monsanto Takeover With $56 Billion Bid

By LESLIE PICKER

Bayer will acquire Monsanto for $128 a share in cash in a deal that is among the largest German corporate takeovers of an American company.

DealBook Highlights

What It Feels Like to Ride in a Self-Driving Uber By MIKE ISAAC Uber is starting its driverless car pilot program in Pittsburgh on Wednesday with a small fleet of modified Ford Fusions. State of the Art How Did G.M. Create Tesla’s Dream Car First? By FARHAD MANJOO The Bolt EV by General Motors is a lower-priced electric car than the Tesla, and has similar features. Fatal Tesla Crash in China Involved Autopilot, Government TV Says By NEAL E. BOUDETTE The company says it has not confirmed whether the automated driver assist feature was engaged during the crash, which occurred in January. Entrepreneurship Your Next Pair of Shoes Could Come From a 3-D Printer By CONSTANCE GUSTKE Fashion start-ups are using technology like smartphones and 3-D printing to make custom clothing more affordable, and Silicon Valley is taking notice. Book Entry Review: ‘Feminist Fight Club’ Takes On Workplace Sexism By JONATHAN A. KNEE Grounded in academic research, Jessica Bennett’s “Feminist Fight Club” is “Lean In” conceived as an illustrated guide for millennials in the office. Sapphire Raises $1 Billion for Investment in Start-Ups By KATIE BENNER The fund eases some fears about a downturn in the venture capital industry.

Buzz Tracker

Federal prosecutors are investigating Wells Fargo. The investigation is focusing on whether someone senior within the bank directed employees to falsify documents. – The Wall Street Journal

Volume in the volatility market exploded. Two investor obsessions, volatility and exchange-traded notes, are being taken to increasingly extreme lengths in the U.S. stock market. – Bloomberg

Pimco accuses Bill Gross of leaking records. “Discovery has revealed that Mr. Gross went so far as to leak confidential Pimco compensation data to the news media after he left the company,” Pimco said, “as part of his sad obsession with attacking his former employer and colleagues.” – Bloomberg

Alan Greenspan worries “crazies” will undermine U.S. “It is the worst economic and political environment that I’ve ever been remotely related to,” he said. – Bloomberg

Fiscal policy makes a quiet turn toward stimulus. A shift in the political winds towards populism has weakened the appetite for austerity, says Greg Ip. – The Wall Street Journal

Why the good times are over for global bonds. Investors have had everything going right for them. That could never last forever. – The Wall Street Journal

Looking Ahead

Commerce Dept. to share retail sales figures. The Commerce Department will report retail sales data on Thursday, as stores around the country continue to push back-to-school sales and promotions for the fall. Excluding autos, retail sales probably rose two-tenths of a percent in August, according to data from the research firm IHS Global Insight. Retail sales were flat in July. – Rachel Abrams

Bank of England expected to retain interest rates. The Bank of England is widely expected to keep interest rates steady when it announces its latest decision on rates on Thursday, but it may signal a need for a further cut in November when it provides an update on its outlook for inflation. In August, the central bank cut its benchmark interest rate to 0.25 percent, the lowest level in its 322-year history, and expanded other measures to bolster Britain’s economy over fears that the country’s decision to leave the European Union could weigh on growth. The rate had remained steady at 0.5 percent since March 2009.

Better-than-expected economic data in the last week or so bolstered the pound against the dollar and has raised questions about whether the Bank of England was too dire in its warnings about the potential impact on the British economy before the referendum in June on whether to leave the European Union. At a committee hearing in Parliament last week, Mark Carney, the Bank of England governor, said he was “comfortable” with the analysis taken by the central bank ahead of the vote and the actions it has taken since then. – Chad Bray  ADVERTISEMENT