The daily business briefing: September 6, 2016

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1. Bayer sweetens its offer for Monsanto
2. British Airways flights delayed by computer problems
3. GM settles two remaining ignition-switch bellwether lawsuits
4. Voters split on who would create more jobs, Clinton or Trump
5. U.S. stock futures rise slightly after long weekend

published 6 September 2016

1. Bayer sweetens its offer for Monsanto

German drug and pesticide maker Bayer said on Monday that it had raised its bid for Monsanto, the world's biggest seed company, to more than $65 billion. The sweetened offer now stands at $127.50 per share, up from $125 per share. Monsanto has said it saw potential benefit in combining the two corporations into a seed and pesticide powerhouse, but its board unanimously rejected the first offer in July, saying the price was too low. Analysts have suggested a price around $135 to $140 per share might be what it takes to strike a deal.

British Airways apologized to passengers on Tuesday after a worldwide computer glitch caused significant delays with its check-in systems. Travelers were affected in the U.K. and U.S., as well as everywhere from the Bahamas to South Africa. One angry passenger, faced with a five-hour delay, called the situation "unacceptable." Traveler Liv Boeree, a professional poker player from London, said British Airways staff members "were excellent," filling out her boarding pass and luggage label by hand. The pilot explained the problem and "apologized profusely."

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General Motors said Monday that it had settled the last two test cases involving faulty ignition switches that have been linked to 124 deaths. The agreement came as the trial in one of the cases was due to start on Sept. 12. That case, filed by Stephanie Cockram of Virginia over her injuries in a 2011 single-vehicle crash in a 2006 Chevrolet Cobalt, would have been the fourth bellwether case involving the ignition switches. The plaintiffs voluntarily dropped the first one, and GM was cleared of liability in the other two.

Likely voters are evenly divided on the question of whether Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump would be better at creating jobs, according to a nationwide USA Today/Suffolk University Poll released on Monday, Labor Day. Forty-four percent of those surveyed picked the Democratic presidential nominee, and 44 percent picked the Republican nominee. Clinton edged ahead of Trump, a billionaire businessman, on who was more trusted on handling the economy in general, leading him 46 percent to 44 percent.

U.S. stocks were set to open higher Tuesday, as futures edged up before trading resumes after the three-day Labor Day weekend. S&P 500, Dow Jones Industrial Average, and Nasdaq-100 futures were all up about 0.1 percent early Tuesday. Analysts expect trading volume to pick up in September compared to August, a month in which all three U.S. benchmarks hit record highs. The "worst of the quiet summer period" has passed, Craig Erlam, senior market analyst at Oanda, said in a note on Tuesday.

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Harold Maass is a contributing editor at The Week. He has been writing for The Week since the 2001 debut of the U.S. print edition and served as editor of TheWeek.com when it launched in 2008. Harold started his career as a newspaper reporter in South Florida and Haiti. He has previously worked for a variety of news outlets, including The Miami Herald, ABC News and Fox News, and for several years wrote a daily roundup of financial news for The Week and Yahoo Finance.