TOP STORIES 
 
BAT OFFERS TO BUY REMAINING REYNOLDS STAKE FOR $47 BILLION 

British American Tobacco said it has made a $47 billion takeover offer for the roughly 58% of American peer Reynolds American that it doesn't already own.

GE PROFIT FALLS AS REVENUE GROWTH LESS THAN EXPECTED 

General Electric's oil and gas business continued to weigh on revenue growth in the latest quarter, and the firm said it would boost its stock-buyback program.

U.S. STOCKS DECLINE 

U.S. stocks fell at the end of a choppy week for shares, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average down around 100 points.

CYBERATTACK KNOCKS OUT ACCESS TO WEBSITES 

Several websites including Twitter and Tumblr were unreachable for many internet users Friday morning following an online attack.

MICROSOFT SHARES HIT ALL-TIME HIGH 

Shares of Microsoft jumped to an all-time high Friday in the wake of a positive earnings report, nearly 17 years after setting its previous high-water mark in the heyday of the dot-com boom.

HONEYWELL'S PROFIT FALLS AS ORGANIC SALES DECLINE 

Honeywell International issued the downbeat earnings report it had forecast earlier this month, saying an unexpectedly weak September and lackluster performance in the aerospace segment hurt profit.

MOODY'S SAYS JUSTICE DEPARTMENT  PREPARING COMPLAINT 

Moody's said the Justice Department is readying a complaint against the firm for ratings it issued just before the 2008 financial crisis.

MCDONALD'S EARNINGS TOP EXPECTATIONS 

McDonald's reported better-than-expected earnings, helped in part by the continued popularity of its all-day breakfast and the introduction of new chicken nuggets.

VISA TAPS BLOCKCHAIN FOR CROSS-BORDER PAYMENT PLAN 

Visa is putting a bitcoin-style network to work as it aims to take on a new market, the large and complex cross-border payments made between businesses.

U.K. GOVERNMENT BORROWING HIGHER THAN EXPECTED 

The U.K. government ran a bigger deficit in September than it did a year earlier and remains on track to borrow more than it had anticipated in the full financial year, official data showed.

EXPENSES DIM PROFIT FOR SUNTRUST BANKS 

SunTrust Banks said profit fell in its latest quarter on an increase in expenses. Results topped Wall Street expectations.

PETROBRAS LOOKS TO SELL STAKE IN ETHANOL PRODUCER 

Brazilian state-run oil company Petró leo Brasileiro SA, or Petrobras, on Friday said it is in talks to sell its stake in sugar and ethanol producer Guarani SA to France's Tereos Internacional.

US FOODS TO CUT JOBS AMID CORPORATE RESTRUCTURING 

Food distributor US Foods Holding Corp. plans to eliminate hundreds of jobs as part of a restructuring of its corporate headquarters near Chicago, according to people familiar with the company's plans.

OPPOSITION TO EU, CANADA DEAL DOESN'T BODE WELL FOR BREXIT 

A region of southern Belgium continued to block a trade deal between the European Union and Canada, raising questions about the bloc's ability to negotiate and win approval for more complex and difficult deals, such as a divorce agreement with Britain.

HANJIN IN TALKS TO SELL STAKE IN LONG BEACH TERMINAL 

Hanjin is in talks with Mediterranean Shipping to sell its stake in the Long Beach Terminal as part of a plan to dispose most of its oversees assets after filing for bankruptcy protection in August, people involved in the matter said Friday.

MAY WANTS BRITAIN, EU TO TRADE FREELY  AFTER BREXIT 

British Prime Minister Theresa May said the U.K. wants to continue to trade freely in goods and services with the European Union even after it leaves, ahead of the start of formal talks on leaving the bloc.

VIDEOGAME VOICE ACTORS GO ON STRIKE 

Thousands of voice-over actors have gone on strike against 11 videogame companies, including industry powerhouses Electronic Arts Inc. and Take-Two Interactive Software Inc., over a pay dispute.

DOLLAR HITS FRESH HIGHS AGAINST EURO AND YUAN 

The European Central Bank signaled overnight it could extend its current easing policies, and markets are continuing to bet on a U.S. interest-rate rise before year-end.

SAP RAISES FULL-YEAR GUIDANCE 

SAP raised its guidance for 2016 to between $7.1 billion to $7.3 billion, even after third quarter net profit fell 19% on higher share-based compensation expenses.

ECB SURVEY SEES WEAK INFLATION IN EUROZONE 

An ECB survey has cut the inflation outlook for this year and 2018, suggesting that the bank will have to keep pushing hard to lift inflation in the eurozone closer to 2%.

 
 
 
  ======= DOW JONES NEWSWIRES ANALYSIS AND COMMENTARIES ======= 
 
 
Election 2016 
TRUMP RESERVES RIGHT TO CONTEST ELECTION OUTCOME 
 

Donald Trump sought to explain his debate-stage suggestion that he might not accept a loss in November's vote as legitimate, saying at a rally he was simply affirming the ability of candidates to question an election outcome.

 
Markets Main 
CHINA TO SKEPTICS: CONSISTENT GDP RATE JUST A COINCIDENCE 
 

To those who were skeptical of China's three straight quarters with the same growth rate, the country's statistics bureau has offered a response: It was just a fluke.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 21, 2016 10:31 ET (14:31 GMT)