Top Midday Stories: Paramount Skydance Settles With US States to Pave Way for Warner Bros. Deal; Anthropic Now Eyeing November IPO

11:39 AM EDT, 09/21/2026 (MT Newswires) -- All three major US stock indexes were up in late-morning trading Monday, as oil prices and Treasury yields fell to kick off a new week of trading. In company news, Paramount Skydance (PSKY) has reached a settlement agreement with California and other states that sued to block the company's proposed acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD), Bloomberg reported Monday, citing a person familiar with the matter. Four states that had opposed the terms of a deal that California had outlined with Paramount conceded over the weekend, paving the way for the settlement, the report said, citing the person. The settlement is expected to be announced later on Monday, the report said. Separately, Warner Bros. unit CNN, Versant Media (VSNT) unit MS Now and Politico said Monday they are suing President Donald Trump and his administration to reverse the administration's move to ban the media outlets from the White House. Shares of Paramount Skydance and Warner Bros. were up 8.5% and 10%, respectively, around midday. Amazon-backed (AMZN) Anthropic is now targeting an initial public offering in November, later than the previously expected launch in October, The Wall Street Journal reported Friday, citing sources familiar with the matter. Anthropic plans to meet prospective investors in the coming days to evaluate interest in the potential IPO, the report said, citing the sources. Amazon shares were up 0.6%. Novo Nordisk (NVO) outlined long-term financial and pipeline targets on Monday, including plans for 150 billion Danish kroner ($23.04 billion) in pipeline sales in 2035 and the launch of at least five multi-blockbusters by 2030. Novo said it is targeting compounded annual revenue growth rates in line with industry peers from 2026 to 2030. The Danish drugmaker also said it is aiming to scale capacity to serve 10 times more people with obesity on oral GLP-1s and over 60 million patients by 2030. Separately, Novo Nordisk said Monday its investigational once-weekly weight-loss and diabetes treatment CagriSema was superior to Eli Lilly's (LLY) tirzepatide and met its primary superiority endpoint in two phase 3 trials. Novo Nordisk shares were down 8.0%, while Eli Lilly shares were up 1%. JPMorgan's (JPM) asset management division and Qatar Investment Authority have signed a memorandum of understanding to establish a $20 billion partnership, spanning public and private markets in both equities and credit, the parties said Monday. The arrangement includes a $15 billion public equities mandate and a $5 billion private markets initiative focused on middle-market companies in the US, according to a statement. JPMorgan shares were up 0.3%. Halliburton (HAL) said Monday it has signed memorandums of understanding with Eneva and WESCA to support oil and gas sector development in Venezuela. Halliburton shares were down 1.4%. Price: 11.08, Change: +0.86, Percent Change: +8.47