Good morning. The Federal Trade Commission is suing Zillow and Redfin, now owned by Rocket Companies, alleging the two real estate advertising platforms made an unlawful pact that suppresses competition.

• The allegations: The FTC’s complaint alleges that Redfin agreed to end its contracts with advertising customers and help Zillow take over that business in exchange for a $100 million payment. The agency also claims that Redfin agreed to stop competing in the advertising market for multifamily properties for up to nine years, and to serve as an exclusive syndicator of Zillow listings.
   
• Impact: The agreement, which Zillow and Redfin entered in February, would likely lead to higher prices and worse terms for apartment advertising, the FTC said. It also reduces incentives for the two companies to compete for renters, the agency added.
   
• What the FTC is looking for: The FTC said it is seeking to end the agreement between Zillow and Redfin and potentially require Redfin to build back its rental-listing business.
   
• Background: Federal regulators and law enforcement have increased their scrutiny of the real-estate business in recent years, particularly in the area of antitrust law. The Justice Department has for years investigated the National Association of Realtors over potentially anticompetitive practices by real-estate agents, and in 2024, the department sued rental software company RealPage, and later several landlords, alleging the use of RealPage’s rent-setting system was a form of price-fixing to increase rents for tenants.

UBS says bank’s business model, Swiss future at stake in regulatory overhaul.

UBS Group said it is looking to defend its business model and its position as a Swiss global bank, which it says is at risk from Switzerland’s proposal to increase capital requirements as part of a regulatory overhaul.

UBS reiterated its opposition to Switzerland’s capital proposals as it submitted its formal response to a consultation process on the first part of the government’s plan to update its “too big to fail” banking regulatory regime. UBS said the proposals in their current form would force it to question its future as a leading Swiss bank and global wealth manager in Switzerland.

EU nations admit Chips Act failing, push for major revision.

European Union nations are calling for a complete rewrite of the 2023 EU Chips Act to abandon its goal of capturing 20% of the global semiconductor market, with all 27 member states signing a declaration Monday that warned the bloc risks falling irreversibly behind global competitors.

What is the EU Chips Act? The EU Chips Act aimed to double Europe’s share of global semiconductor production to 20% by 2030 through public and private investments totaling 43 billion euros, or about $51 billion.

• The U.S. Treasury Department is delaying for three months the implementation of a rule aiming to crack down on money laundering in the U.S. residential real-estate market, Mengqi Sun reports for Risk Journal.
   
• Tractor Supply will pay $1.35 million to resolve allegations the rural lifestyle retailer violated California’s privacy law, according to Risk Journal.
   
• Chinese shipbuilder Yangzijiang terminated contracts for four oil tankers worth approximately $180 million after discovering allegations that the buyer’s sole shareholder was involved in schemes to circumvent U.S. sanctions.
   
• Merrill Lynch is trading jabs with a large group of its former financial advisors, Charles Schwab and Dynasty Financial Partners in an escalating legal battle that centers on how those advisors departed Merrill.
   
• A former investment advisor and broker in the Seattle area is heading to prison for nearly three years for a long-running fraud that bilked a client out of more than $500,000.

How government shutdowns affect the economy.

Government shutdowns, like the one that took effect at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday, can squeeze the economy in different ways, from missed paychecks for hundreds of thousands of federal employees to the delayed release of crucial economic indicators. But duration matters. The longer the closure lasts, the greater the hit to economic growth and the work of businesses that rely on the federal government’s daily functioning.

Potential impact. Shutting down the government comes at a delicate time for the U.S. labor market, which spent the summer stuck in a stall pattern because of slow hiring. Without government data personnel on hand, economists and investors won’t get the next big indicator on Friday, when the September jobs report is due.

Oceans a ‘biodiversity blind spot’ for corporate risk.

Companies and investors are seeking out more data on how harm to oceans could impact their bottom lines. As worries about the health of the seas ramp up, industries from aquaculture to shipping, to insurance will have to weather the long-term consequences.

“The ocean has long been a biodiversity blind spot…due to the lack of usable data,” said Mahima Sukhdev, chief growth officer at GIST Impact, a sustainability data provider. Despite the ocean’s critical role in regulating climate, supporting biodiversity, and sustaining industries, it has remained largely absent from investor data sets, GIST Impact said.

• U.S. Ambassador to China David Perdue told Republican senators on Tuesday that China is using its purchasing power in agricultural products as leverage over the U.S. in trade talks—but he hopes for a resolution soon.
   
• Asia’s economies grew at a solid pace in the first half of the year, but that momentum will slow as tariffs take effect, the Asian Development Bank said as it cut growth forecasts for the region.
   
• For months, President Trump warned Hamas that it had to release all remaining hostages or face Israel’s wrath. On Monday, he issued an ominous message: Agree to a 20-point peace plan for Gaza, or suffer complete annihilation.
   
• A former assistant to a German far-right lawmaker was sentenced to jail for spying on behalf of China, casting light on Beijing’s espionage efforts in Europe as the relationship between the two deteriorates.
   
• China’s Communist Party has replaced Liu Jianchao as the head of its foreign-relations arm, a switch that came weeks after The Wall Street Journal reported the senior diplomat was taken away for questioning.
   
• One of America’s hottest energy investments—liquefied natural gas—looks like it’s on the brink of oversupply, and companies that are plowing money into it could run into financial difficulty in the years ahead.

• Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway is in talks to buy Occidental Petroleum’s petrochemical business for around $10 billion, according to people familiar with the matter. 
   
• President Trump unveiled plans Tuesday to launch a government-run website, dubbed TrumpRx, for consumers to buy drugs directly from manufacturers, and he said Pfizer plans to offer some of its drugs on the site at a reduced rate.
   
• President Trump said Tuesday his administration is “getting very close” to striking a deal with Harvard University that would see the Ivy League school pay about $500 million.
   
• American Eagle Outfitters’ chief executive had a message for staff when a Sydney Sweeney ad campaign blew up the internet: Hold tight.
   
• A powerful earthquake collapsed buildings and set off several landslides in the central Philippines, killing at least 69 people and injuring hundreds more, officials said Wednesday.

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