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By Michael S. Derby NEW YORK (Reuters) -Federal Reserve Bank of Boston President Susan Collins said on Tuesday that her outlook for monetary policy is consistent with the gradual path of easing shown in the latest central bank forecasts, in comments that framed aggressive rate cuts as risky. The reason to refrain from swift rate cuts comes down to the ongoing threat posed by inflation, even at a time when there are signs of weakness in the job market, Collins said in an interview with Reuters in New York. “We have to balance the risks on the inflation side,” Collins said. “Are there risks on the labor market side? Yes, and I think the softening that we've seen is evidence of that,” but both of those factors need to be weighed when determining interest rate policy. Cutting rates “too quickly and certainly announcing, oh yeah, we're just going to…keep going until we get to neutral, that seems to me to be a scenario where the risks to inflation go up, and that's not consistent, I think, with following through on our mandate.” Earlier this month, the Federal Reserve trimmed its overnight interest rate target range by a quarter percentage point, to between 4% and 4.25%, while penciling in a gradual pace of cuts into the end of the year, potentially hitting between 3.5% and 3.75%. The Fed said the rate cut was aimed at reducing rising risks to the job market, while still keeping monetary policy in a place where it can help lower inflation pressures. Fed officials have been split over where to go next on monetary policy. Collins said in a speech ahead of the interview that she supported the September easing and is open to more cuts if the data support it. Some officials like Cleveland Fed chief Beth Hammack remain very worried about inflation and lean against making short-term borrowing costs lower. Meanwhile, Stephen Miran, a new Fed governor unusually on leave from serving in the Trump White House, dissented at the Federal Open Market Committee meeting in favor of a 50-basis-point cut. Michelle Bowman, the central bank’s regulatory point person and a potential contender to succeed Fed Chair Jerome Powell when his term expires next year, is also open to aggressive easing to offset what she sees as rising risks to the job market. In the interview, Collins noted that many aspects of inflation have moderated as officials would like, but Trump administration tariffs have pushed up key prices and it remains unclear how that will play out for price pressures. She also warned that after several years of persistently high inflation, there remains the prospect that public expectations will shift toward expecting persistent inflation gains, which should be avoided. Collins also said the Fed faces little pressure to blast forward with rate cuts given that overall financial conditions are pretty supportive of the economy. Some estimates suggest that "financial conditions are actually giving a bit of a tailwind in terms of economic growth, and that we're seeing that in terms of some of the activity,” the official said. “It doesn't seem like to me an environment where we don't have the space… to really thoughtfully analyze economic conditions and make decisions based on what the data show.” (Reporting by Michael S. Derby; Editing by Andrea Ricci)

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By Jesús Aguado MADRID (Reuters) -Sabadell board member and third-largest shareholder David Martinez will accept BBVA's improved hostile takeover offer, he said on Tuesday, boosting the prospect of the bigger Spanish bank taking over its smaller rival. A combined entity would become one of the largest lenders in Europe, with about 1 trillion euros by assets though the government has blocked a full-merger for at least three years. Sabadell's board, however, told shareholders to reject the revised the offer, which currently values Sabadell at about 16.97 billion euros ($19.78 billion), as it still fundamentally undervalued the bank. BBVA said in a statement it welcomed Martinez’s announcement. The recommendation from Sabadell's board is a last-ditch effort by Sabadell to stop its bigger rival from convincing enough shareholders that their future is better off with BBVA. Sabadell's CEO Cesar Gonzalez-Bueno told Reuters that BBVA still undervalued Sabadell by about 26%. BBVA had sweetened its offer to one BBVA share for every 4.8376 Sabadell shares, raising the implied price by 10% to 3.39 euros per Sabadell share, from the previous offer. Sabadell shareholders have until Oct. 10 to decide, bringing an 18-month process that began with BBVA turning hostile closer to a conclusion. As of August, Sabadell said on Tuesday it reached an accumulative net profit of 1.26 billion euros, representing a return-on-tangible ratio (ROTE), a measure of profitability of 15.1%. MEXICAN BOARD MEMBER SEES RATIONALE IN BBVA BID Martinez, who holds a 3.86% stake holding through Fintech Europe, said that he had decided to participate in the offer because he believed that the future consolidation of both banks in Spain would result in an even more competitive entity. "Enormous attention has been paid to the price of the offer; in my view, this factor is secondary to the strategic benefits of the integration of the entities in the long term," he said, adding that he had abstained from endorsing the board's report as he did not not share some of the opinions. At current market prices his holding is worth around 640 million euros. In its bid to win over retail shareholders, BBVA on Monday announced a record interim dividend against 2025 results, while Sabadell on Tuesday raised its shareholder remuneration target to 1.45 billion euros this year from 1.3 billion euros. BBVA is aiming to secure support from at least 50.01% of Sabadell shareholders, though it can lower the threshold to 30%. If BBVA removes this condition and secures between 30% and 50%, it would be required to submit a second mandatory offer for the remaining shares, involving a cash alternative. In any case, the fair-value price would be set by the supervisor. (Reporting by Jesús Aguado; additional reporting by Emma Pinedo; editing by Tommy Wilkes, Andrei Khalip and Nick Zieminski)

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By Dawn Kopecki, Charlie Conchie and Kane Wu LONDON/NEW YORK/HONG KONG (Reuters) -For dealmakers across the world, the third quarter was one of the best and one of the worst in recent history. Megadeals tallied a stunning $1.26 trillion in global mergers and acquisitions during the third quarter – up 40% year over year – making it the second-best third quarter on record by deal value for the three months ended Sept. 30, according to Dealogic data. But a paltry 8,912 deals were signed, down 16% from last year, the worst third-quarter for deal volume in 20 years, data show. It's a peculiar time for dealmakers, who came into 2025 with lofty predictions of a banner year following U.S. President Donald Trump's election. But Trump's punishing tariffs unleashed on Liberation Day and a continued antitrust crackdown on Big Tech sent markets gyrating in the second quarter, prompting many corporations to delay M&A and IPO plans while the trade negotiations played out. Pent-up company demand coupled with fresh stock market highs has unleashed a flurry of big deals and IPOs in recent months that have salvaged an otherwise moribund year for the industry. Fewer deals are getting signed, but the average size has surged to $141.4 million during the third quarter, up from $85.5 million during the same time last year,  data show.  "The second quarter was lining up to be quite exciting, and then Liberation Day happened right at the beginning. People, understandably, took a little bit of the foot off the pedal, trying to understand the implications," Naveen Nataraj, co-head of U.S. investment banking at Evercore, told Reuters in an interview. "As the year has progressed, there's growing comfort that the tariff landscape is going to land in a place that people are able to navigate." Several big, splashy initial public offerings that were pulled in April, including ticket reseller StubHub's $800 million IPO and buy-now-pay-later fintech company Klarna's $1.37 billion trading debut, helped revive the IPO market earlier this month. Still roughly 987 companies across the world raised some $115 billion in their IPOs so far this year, down 24% and 9% respectively over the same period last year.   In Europe some IPOs are getting done again.   "The relatively subdued IPO issuance we have seen since September last year is mainly because we hadn’t seen high-quality, large-cap companies come to market, but now we are starting to see that," said Martin Thorneycroft, global co-head of equity capital markets at Morgan Stanley. CHINA DELISTING THREATS IN US IPOs and second listings in Asia were particularly hot, especially on the Hong Stock Exchange where the largest IPO in the world came with the debut on Tuesday of Chinese firm Zijin Gold International raising $3.2 billion. Companies have raised a total of $23 billion in Hong Kong so far this year, more than three times the value for the same period in 2024, Dealogic data show, as Republicans threaten to delist Chinese stocks in the U.S. "A fundamental shift in how investors perceive China risk, together with global long-only funds diversifying away from the U.S., is driving more capital into Hong Kong listings," said James Wang, head of equity capital markets for Asia excluding Japan at Goldman Sachs. While the pipeline for IPOs is robust, dealmakers say, there's one potential glitch for new listings, as the U.S. Congress and the Trump administration are deadlocked in federal budget negotiations and the country faces a potential government shutdown as soon as Wednesday. That would cause a logjam for IPOs as the federal regulators tasked with approving new listings face furloughs.  “The IPO backlog remains strong, and we anticipate a steady flow of IPOs coming to market through year-end," said JPMorgan's David Bauer, co-head of equity capital markets for the Americas. "Investors have made money in IPOs year-to-date, however, as market conditions become somewhat more volatile, it will be important to price equity appropriately.”CRYPTO AND AI BOOM Crypto companies and just about anything tied to them helped fuel the boom in IPOs in September as the industry cashed in on Trump's easing of regulations in the U.S. Stablecoin issuer Figure raised $787.5 million in its September 10 debut in an IPO that was oversubscribed and upsized.   Just about anything tied to AI was hot in M&A and IPOs, whether it was software companies, infrastructure or chips. Splashy private deals like Nvidia's $100 billion investment in OpenAI didn't make Dealogic's league tables, but plenty of others did, like Israeli software company CyberArk Software's $24.5 billion acquisition in July of Palo Alto Networks, which uses AI to provide network and cloud security. "Almost every client, and it doesn't matter what industry the client is, they are thinking about AI in their M&A strategy," said Camila Panama, a partner specializing in M&A at Mayer Brown. “There's a robust pipeline for Q4, so we are anticipating a strong quarter, particularly active in the financial services industry, insurance, as well as in-bound/out-bound Japan deals,” she said.GOING FOR SCALE IN M&A  Cross-border dealmaking is also making a comeback, rising by 44% to $931 billion, the biggest jump in such M&A since 2021 and a peak not seen since that year. Companies are going for scale, dealmakers say. Smaller deals under $500 million or so just aren't moving the needle with shareholders these days, they added.  There were a record number of deals over $10 billion so far this year – 49 – up 75% from the first nine months of last year, data show. Monday's $55 billion leveraged buyout of videogame maker Electronic Arts is the most recent mega deal of the quarter, but that wasn't even the biggest one. That honor goes to Union Pacific's $88.18 billion acquisition of Norfolk Southern announced in July, according to Dealogic.   (Reporting by Dawn Kopecki in New York, Charlie Conchie in London, Kane Wu in Hong Kong. Editing by Anousha Sakoui)

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By Georgina McCartney HOUSTON (Reuters) -Oil prices slipped on Tuesday as investors braced for a supply surplus due to potential OPEC+ plans for a larger output hike next month and the resumption of oil exports from Iraq's Kurdistan region via Turkey.  Brent crude futures for November delivery, expiring on Tuesday, fell 87 cents, or 1.3%, to $67.10 a barrel by 1:22 p.m. EDT (1722 GMT). The more active December contract fell 82 cents or 1.2% to $66.27. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude was $62.61 a barrel, down 84 cents, or 1.3%. On Monday, Brent and WTI both settled more than 3% lower, their sharpest daily declines since August 1. OPEC+ may speed up production increases in November from the 137,000 barrels per day hike it made for October at its meeting on Sunday as its leader Saudi Arabia pushes to regain market share, three sources familiar with the talks said. Eight members of OPEC+ could agree to raise production in November by 274,000-411,000 bpd, or two or three times higher than the October increase, two of the three sources said. OPEC+ pumps about half of the world's oil. "This (OPEC+) strategy could significantly squeeze margins for high-cost U.S. shale producers, potentially forcing them to scale back the record-level output they’ve maintained," said StoneX analyst Alex Hodes. Meanwhile, crude oil flowed on Saturday through a pipeline from the semi-autonomous Kurdistan region in northern Iraq to Turkey for the first time in two and a half years, after an interim deal broke a deadlock, Iraq's oil ministry said. "Oil prices are under pressure in anticipation of OPEC+ deciding to restore additional quantities of oil back to market, along with the resumption of Kurdish exports, so additional supplies are weighing on market prices," said Andrew Lipow, president of Lipow Oil Associates. The market has remained cautious in recent weeks, balancing supply risks, mainly arising from Ukraine's drone attacks on Russian refineries, with expectations of oversupply and weak demand. Elsewhere, U.S. President Donald Trump won Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu's support for a U.S.-backed Gaza peace proposal, but the stance of Hamas was uncertain.  In an ideal scenario, shipping traffic through the Suez Canal would return to normal following a Gaza peace deal, which would remove a significant portion of the geopolitical risk premium, PVM analyst Tamas Varga said. Adding to the bearish sentiment, the potential risk of a U.S. government shutdown has raised demand concerns, said ANZ analysts in a note. The market awaits weekly oil stock data from the American Petroleum Institute, later on Tuesday. Analysts polled by Reuters forecast a build in crude and gasoline stocks and a drawdown in distillates. (Reporting by Georgina McCartney in Houston, Enes Tunagur in London, Anjana Anil in Bengaluru and Emily Chow in Singapore; Editing by Marguerita Choy and David Gregorio)

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(Reuters) -Shares of Pfizer rose about 5% after U.S. President Donald Trump said on Tuesday the drugmaker will cut the price on all of its prescription drugs sold to the Medicaid insurance program and will introduce all new prescription drugs at a "most favored nation" price. The White House is also planning to unveil a direct-to-consumer website, called TrumpRx, for Americans to buy drugs. Pfizer will launch sales of some of its drugs directly to consumers through that website. According to a poster on display at the White House press conference, Pfizer will make drugs — rheumatoid arthritis drug Xeljanz, migraine treatment Zavzpret, dermatitis drug Eucrisa and post-menopausal osteoporosis medication Duavee — available on the website discounted between 40% and 85%. Trump also added that other drugmakers will commit to similar agreements in coming weeks. Shares of other drugmakers — Merck, Eli Lilly, AbbVie and Bristol Myers Squibb — were up between 3% and 5%. While the "most favored nation" pricing and pharmaceutical tariffs have loomed as a concern for the sector for some time, today's announcement appears to read positively, said BMO Capital Markets analyst Evan Seigerman. Trump sent letters to 17 leading drug companies in July, telling them to slash drug prices to match those paid overseas — a policy that the president called "most favored nation pricing," or MFN. The drug companies were asked to respond with binding commitments by September 29. Pfizer is the first company to announce a deal. "Today's deal seems to set a path for other pharmaceutical players to follow, allowing for headline pricing concessions and a Trump 'win,' without more punitive implementation of MFN/tariffs," Seigerman said. (Reporting by Sneha S K in Bengaluru; Editing by Alan Barona)

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By Greg Bensinger and Arriana McLymore SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) -Amazon on Tuesday unveiled a refreshed lineup of devices optimized for home security and its new artificial intelligence-infused Alexa+ voice assistant. At an event in New York, Amazon showed off Echo speakers, Fire TV streaming devices, a new Kindle reader and improved Ring and Blink cameras. Amazon is trying to drive interest in the new Alexa, which it spent years updating with AI for better personalization and a more conversational tone. The effort carries significant weight as Amazon has spent billions on Alexa with the aim of making the money-losing service profitable.  The Seattle firm said its new Echos, including smaller Dots and Show devices with screens that range from $99 to $219, will be enabled to work with Alexa+ and feature new silicon chips for faster processing. Amazon also rolled out improved cameras for its Ring devices for better home security, including facial recognition to help ward off unwanted visitors. The head of Ring, Jamie Siminoff, said blurry images can make it more difficult to survey a scene outside one’s home. The new Ring cameras, available later this year, will also be enabled with Alexa+ allowing the devices, through the use of AI, to help make decisions like whether a visitor is delivering a package or casing someone’s house for intrusion. They will be priced from $60 to $350 depending on their utility and camera quality. "It's about knowing immediately whether your visitor is someone you know or someone you've never seen before," said Siminoff, whom Amazon brought back to the company earlier this year.  There are also new Blink cameras with higher resolution for better monitoring inside and outside one’s home, Amazon said. (Reporting by Greg BensingerEditing by Marguerita Choy)

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By Marc Jones LONDON (Reuters) -After the storms earlier in the year, investors have basked in a steamy summer market melt-up that has added another $5 trillion to record-high share markets and lifted almost everything else, too. Those looking after public finances in Paris or London may disagree, but it is as if all the fiscal and trade worries have eased and investors are back to doing what they do best – buying expensive tech stocks. Google's have leapt almost 40% during a quarter when AI darling Nvidia also became the world's first $4 trillion company, and China's nearest equivalent, Cambricon, surged 120%.    The headscratcher, though, is that the usual go-to asset when traders suspect trouble, gold, has jumped another 15% to fresh record highs too and silver almost 30%. Japan's yen, another safety play, has dropped but the ominous rumblings in the bond markets certainly haven't gone away either with the collapse of another French government briefly pushed its borrowing costs above Italy's for the first time and 30-year yields hitting a record high in Japan. At the same time, implied U.S. bond volatility has dropped to its lowest in over three years. That's a sign that markets may be learning to live with the trade war while Moritz Kraemer, chief economist at LBBW and the former head of sovereign ratings at S&P Global, also points to the stock market's surge.  Not only is price-to-earnings ratio on U.S. stocks now in the top 2-3% in history, just 10 firms also now account for 40% of the S&P 500's value.  "When you then throw in all the uncertainty around Trumponomics, that's hard to square," Kraemer said. GOLD AND SILVER SHINE A steadier dollar has also lowered stress levels. While still down nearly 10% for the year – the most at this stage of a year since 1989 – it is up 1% in the third quarter, largely thanks to a weaker yen. Oil prices are pretty much where they started Q3, whereas gold's record run leaves it up 45% and heading for its biggest annual jump since 1979. Silver is over 60% higher. "Gold and silver have been the big trade," said Saxo Bank's head of FX strategy John Hardy, explaining the gains have been driven by worries huge government debt loads will lead to "some form of financial repression". There has also been the ongoing rise in European weapons makers, up almost 85% this year and leaving everything bar Chinese tech stocks and, wait for it, European banks, for dust. That has been driven by U.S. President Donald Trump, too, following signals he will scale back Europe's military protection forcing the region – and other NATO members – to rearm.  Another small U.S. interest rate cut and Trump's attacks on the Fed meanwhile have shifted bond markets. The 30-year Treasury yield surged past 5.1% to its highest since 2007 in May, but is now back at 4.7%, while Switzerland has taken its rates back down to 0%.       ARGENTINA GOT MESSY AGAIN The dollar's stabilisation leaves the euro up 13% for the year, the yen over 6% higher and the Swiss franc up 13.5%, while some of the fastest-charging emerging market currencies had been checked. Trump's grumbles at Russian President Vladimir Putin have trimmed the rouble's surge, albeit to a still world leading 32%, while gold producer Ghana's cedi has pulled back 16% this quarter having been up over 40% at the end of H2. The Hungarian forint and Czech crown have crept up in Eastern Europe, and Brazil's real, the Mexican and Colombia's pesos and emerging market local currency debt are all enjoying double-digit gains too. Argentina has been the quarter's standout story though after a corruption scandal and thumping regional election defeat for Javier Milei's party crashed the peso it the rest of its markets. The central bank tried to prop it up but to no avail. Washington then left markets open-mouthed as it rowed in with a Mario Draghi-style whatever-it-takes promise of support.  "This is a country that is undergoing a major restructuring of the entire economy," Vanguard's co-head of emerging market debt Daniel Shaykevich said. "There is a lot of risk if that programme doesn't continue as expected".         There won't be much downtime in Q4.  The U.S. government could be about to shut down, Trump is dishing more tariffs out, China's new 5-year economic plan is due October 20-23, Argentine midterms are three days later, and there's all the Fed, growth and AI unknowns, too. "It is a tricky market to read at the moment," Charles Schwab managing director, Richard Flynn, said. "Investors have had a really good time of it in the last five years, but as we know from history it doesn't last forever". (Additional reporting by Yoruk Bahceli; Editing by Dhara Ranasinghe and Nick Zieminski)

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By Nelson Bocanegra BOGOTA (Reuters) – Inflation in Colombia likely stabilized in September compared with the same month last year, but expectations for the remainder of this year and for 2026 have risen again, moving further from the central bank's target, a Reuters poll revealed on Tuesday. According to the median forecast of 21 analysts, consumer prices in September are expected to rise by 0.23%. This is in line with the 0.24% increase in September of last year and up from 0.19% in August of this year.  Forecasts for the month ranged from 0.14% to 0.34%. September's inflation was likely driven by a rise in the prices of housing rentals, public utilities, food, education and hotel and restaurant services, analysts said. "A rebound is expected in the price of public utilities, especially gas, while electricity prices could end their recent streak of declines," said Jackeline Pirajan, chief analyst for Scotiabank in Colombia. "A contribution from education-related items is also expected." If the poll's median forecast is met, 12-month inflation through September would stand at 5.10%. This rate is stable compared with the period ending in August, but remains far from the central bank's 3% target. National statistics agency DANE will publish its official September inflation report on October 7. According to the survey, year-end inflation expectations for 2025 have increased to 5.03% from 4.95% in the previous poll, which would mark the fifth consecutive year the target has been missed. For the end of 2026, inflation expectations increased to 4.05% from 3.99% in the last survey, while the forecast for the end of 2027 remained stable at 3.60%. Persistent consumer price pressures have led the central bank to hold its benchmark interest rate at 9.25% since April, the only month this year it was lowered. A Reuters poll earlier this week indicated the monetary authority will likely hold the rate steady again later on Tuesday. (Reporting by Nelson Bocanegra in BogotaEditing by Matthew Lewis)

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By Lucia Mutikani WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. job openings increased marginally in August while hiring declined, consistent with lackluster labor market conditions that could allow the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates again next month despite resilient consumer spending. Households are also growing pessimistic about the labor market. A survey from the Conference Board on Tuesday showed the share of consumers viewing jobs a "plentiful" fell this month to the lowest level since early 2021. There were 0.98 job openings for every unemployed person in August compared to 1.0 in July.  The labor market has eased amid slowing demand for workers, with economists blaming a lagging drag from uncertainty stemming from tariffs on imports as well as the rise of artificial intelligence. An immigration crackdown has also reduced labor supply, creating what Fed Chair Jerome Powell has described as a "curious balance." "The labor market remains lethargic but is not getting rapidly sicker," said Samuel Tombs, chief U.S. economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics. Job openings, a measure of labor demand, rose 19,000 to 7.227 million by the last day of August, the Labor Department's Bureau of Labor Statistics said in its Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, or JOLTS report. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast 7.185 million unfilled jobs. With the government likely to shut down when funding runs out at midnight on Tuesday, the report could be the last key economic data for a while. The Labor and Commerce departments said on Monday all data releases, including September's employment report due on Friday, would be suspended. Job openings decreased 115,000 in the construction sector but were partly offset by a 106,000 increase in unfilled positions in the accommodation and food services industry. There were also more vacancies at retailers as well as in state and local government, excluding education. But federal government job openings fell 61,000 amid spending cuts. The job openings rate was unchanged at 4.3%. Hiring decreased 114,000 to 5.126 million in August, concentrated in the trade, transportation and utilities industry. Accommodation and food services hiring also declined, likely the result of immigration raids that have led to deportations and kept fearful workers at home. EMPLOYERS HOLDING ON TO WORKERS The hires rate fell to 3.2% from 3.3%. Employers continued to hold on to their workers, with layoffs dropping 62,000 to 1.725 million. There were fewer layoffs in the trade, transportation and utilities industry. The layoffs rate was unchanged at 1.1% for a third straight month. Weak hiring, however, means people who lose their jobs will have a tough time finding new opportunities. The Conference Board survey showed the share of consumers viewing jobs as plentiful dropped to 26.9% this month, the lowest level since February 2021, from 30.2% in August. There was no change in the proportion perceiving jobs as "hard" to get. The survey's so-called labor market differential, derived from data on respondents' views on whether jobs are plentiful or hard to get, narrowed to 7.8 from 11.1 last month. This measure correlates to the unemployment rate in the Labor Department's monthly employment report. The unemployment rate rose to nearly a four-year high of 4.3% in August. The U.S. central bank resumed easing policy this month, cutting its benchmark overnight interest rate by 25 basis points to the 4.00%-4.25% range, to aid the labor market. Nonfarm payroll gains averaged only 29,000 jobs per month in the three months to August compared to 82,000 during the same period last year. But a raft of fairly strong reports, including second-quarter gross domestic product and August consumer spending, raised questions about whether more rate reductions were warranted this year.  Economists expect the Fed to put more emphasis on the labor market. Nonfarm payrolls likely increased by 50,000 jobs in September after rising only 22,000 in August, a Reuters survey of economists showed. The unemployment rate was forecast unchanged at 4.3%, but with risks tilted to the upside. (Reporting by Lucia Mutikani; Editing by Andrea Ricci)

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By Jesús Aguado MADRID (Reuters) -The board of Spanish lender Sabadell on Tuesday advised its shareholders to reject BBVA's improved hostile takeover bid, adding that it fundamentally undervalued the bank. However, Mexican investor David Martinez, the largest shareholder on Sabadell's board with a 3.86% holding through Fintech Europe, said he would accept BBVA's recent sweetener, in what is the first indication of an acceptance during the bid period, which will last until October 10. The bid is currently worth around 16.97 billion euros ($19.91 billion). "I have decided to participate in the offer presented by BBVA because I believe that the future consolidation of both institutions in Spain will result in an even more competitive entity," Martinez said as part of the board's opinion. In the report, Martinez said that enormous attention had been paid to the price of the offer, but in his view, "this factor is secondary to the strategic benefits of the integration of the entities in the long term". The board's recommendation is a last-ditch effort by Sabadell's management to stop its bigger rival from convincing enough shareholders that their future is better off in what would become the second-largest bank in the euro zone by market value. ($1 = 0.8524 euros) (Reporting by Jesús Aguado; editing by Tommy Wilkes and Andrei Khalip)

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