US MARKETS:

S&P 500 futures up 0.2% to 3,041.00

Brent futures down 0.7% to $59.79/bbl

Gold spot little changed to $1,513.66

US Dollar Index little changed at 97.29

 

GLOBAL NEWS:

Earnings season. Alibaba, Exxon Mobil, Chevron, Novo Nordisk, AbbVie, Colgate-Palmolive, DSV and Wolters Kluwer are among companies reporting today.

No hard feelings, really? Renault President Jean-Dominique Senard said on NHK that the Alliance with Nissan and Mitsubishi can do without Fiat Chrysler, which should fall into the hands of Peugeot, after merger discussions with the Italian group failed during the summer. "If I spent my time feeling sorry for myself, I couldn't be the boss," he told the Japanese media about the failure of the merger with the Italian group. In the meantime, and despite a rather violent drop in the stock market yesterday, it is PSA that is in a positive dynamic on the automotive market at the moment.

Hydrogen trains. Alstom will test Engie's Coradia iLint, the world's first hydrogen-powered passenger train, in the Netherlands in the first quarter of 2020 on the Groningen-Leeuwarden line at a maximum speed of 140 km/h. "The objective is to demonstrate that hydrogen fuel cells are an ideal technology for achieving clean rail traffic on non-electrified lines in the Netherlands where diesel trains currently operate," the group says. The tests will last two weeks. Hydrogen trains supplied by Alstom have already been operating in Germany since last year.

Several fronts. Facebook estimates that it could pay a fine of up to $9 billion if it loses its litigation with the US tax authorities. That is certainly the amount that appears in a regulatory document published yesterday. The initial estimate was limited to $5 billion. In addition, a complaint was filed against the group accusing it of discrimination against women and the elderly in advertising targeting. And WhatsApp is in the sights of regulators in several countries after revelations about NSO Group's spyware (which WhatsApp sued). The Californian's sprawling organization led him, it is logical, to be attacked on several fronts.

The last Metro. Daniel Kretinsky and Patrik Tkac will increase their stake in Metro AG from 17.52% to 29.99% by exercising a call option on shares held by Haniel of Germany. Their holding company, EP Global Commerce, is expected to finalize the transaction on November 6. EPGC's €5.8 billion takeover bid failed in August because it failed to convince major shareholders.

Failure. Novartis reports that the primary endpoint was not met in a study seeking to demonstrate the superiority of its Cosentyx over Abbaviva Humira in the treatment of active psoriatic arthritis. However, some encouraging secondary elements were highlighted.

In other news. Apple and Wistron could invest directly in Japan Display, in difficulty, according to Kyodo. Qantas in turn immobilizes Boeing 737NGs suffering from structural microcracks. Altria wrote down its stake in Juul by $4.5 billion. Pinterest is gloomy after the Wall Street session after the increase in his losses. Amgen will take 20.5% of Beigene for $2.7 billion. Nintendo jumps to the Tokyo Stock Exchange after publishing solid results.