The European Commission has moved to refer Ireland to the European Court of Justice for failing to recover up to €13B of illegal state aid from Apple.  In a parallel case, Europe's competition chief said Luxembourg must collect around €250M of back taxes from Amazon, adding to a growing list of scalps for Margrethe in an EU crackdown on tax loopholes. The Commission has currently turned its attention towards McDonald's. (SA)

The pace of hiring in the private sector slowed to its weakest pace in 13 months during August, as Hurricane Irma and Harvey disrupted businesses across a large swath of the southeastern US.  Non-farm private employers added 135,000 jobs from August to September, according to a report from payroll processor ADP. That is less than market expectations for a gain of 140,000 jobs; and significantly lower than last month‘s reading of 236,000 new jobs. (FT)

Uber will accept an investment from Japan's SoftBank joining a growing portfolio of U.S. technology deals made by the intrepid Japanese mogul Masayoshi Son. The investment will add just over $1bn to Uber’s cash horde. The company’s last-reported valuation is just shy of $70bn. UBER's board has also agreed to governance changes that limit the influence of former CEO Travis Kalanick, and an IPO deadline in 2019. (SA)

With Northwest Quadrant Wealth Management, a Registered Investment Advisor, I am Josh Fenili.