Earnings season. Softbank, Prudential Plc, Sysco, Zalando, Uniper, HelloFresh and Intercontinental Hotels are among companies reporting their results today.

Verdict on August 24. EssilorLuxottica may decide not to buy out GrandVision, accused of having taken liberties in managing the coronavirus crisis in relation to the initial agreements, a dispute that will be settled by the Dutch courts on August 24. "GrandVision has accepted a contractual obligation not to deviate from its course. But it has radically changed course," said EssilorLuxottica's lawyer, Jeroen Kortmann, at a hearing yesterday. His counterpart on behalf of GrandVision replied that the French-Italian had been kept informed. Will the August 24 decision be decisive?

Lawsuit. McDonald's has taken legal action against its former general manager Steve Easterbrook, who was fired in November following an affair with a staff member.

New horizons. With its F2 division, Facebook wants to push its pawns in the field of payment and finance, despite the difficulties of the Libra project.

New status for Uber and Lyft drivers. The Californian court has granted the state's request to prevent Uber Technologies and Lyft Inc. from considering their drivers as independent contractors rather than employees.

A few results:

Barrick Gold: the mining group reported slightly better-than-expected results in the second quarter.

HelloFresh raised its 2020 forecast. Second quarter revenues reached €972.1m, at the top of expectations, which have been revised positively several times this year.

Marriott: Losses are higher than expected, but some signs of recovery in China mitigate the negative impression. The stock gained 3.6% in yesterday's session.

Occidental Petroleum: The oil group suffered a loss of $8.35bn in the second quarter due to lower oil prices and write-downs. The share fell 5.6% after the session.

Tencent Music Entertainment Group: Tencent's subsidiary reported quarterly revenues up 18%, beating Wall Street estimates. The stock gained 2.4% after the close.

Uniper: The German energy company Uniper reported adjusted operating profit of €691m at the end of the first half, twice as much as in the first half of the previous year.

Zalando: the German e-commerce group recorded a 27% increase in revenues in the second quarter, to €2.03 billion, with adjusted operating profit more than doubling to €212 million.

In other news. Eastman Kodak shares fell sharply yesterday after a $765 million loan was frozen while Congress considers the terms of the loan. Implenia wins more than CHF 108 million in new construction projects in Germany.