A first compensation. American Airlines has signed a confidential agreement with Boeing to compensate the losses suffered in 2019 by the company because of the immobilization of its fleet of 737 MAX. The carrier has only specified that the compensation will be paid over several years. At the same time, it will use more than $30 million for the company's profit-sharing program for employees. Boeing is negotiating with all customer airlines to compensate for their shortfall related to the 737 MAX downtime.

Aston Martin warns again. The luxury brand, which is facing difficult conditions, has not achieved its objectives. Aston Martin's unit sales have fallen by 7% and adjusted EBITDA will be between £130m and £140m for 2019.

A new A320neo order. The Singapore leasing company BOC has ordered 20 A320neo Family single-aisle aircraft from Airbus, to be delivered in 2023 and 2024. In December, BOC placed an identical order for deliveries in 2022 and 2023. At the old list prices, the order is worth some $2 billion, but it is well known that customers, especially lessors, get generous discounts on their purchases, often more than 50% for single-aisle aircraft.

European banking. The hypothesis of a banking consolidation in Europe is being discussed again after an interview yesterday with the boss of Société Générale, Frédéric Oudéa, in the Financial Times, in which he explained that the bank wants to play a role in such a process. "If this consolidation, which would be a logical outcome of a finalized banking union, were to take place, there would be a very small number of mergers. Don't imagine a deluge of operations, but Société Générale should be part of it," he said.

Nissan castigates Ghosn. Nissan estimates that Carlos Ghosn "flouted the Japanese legal system" by choosing to flee abroad, on the eve of a press conference of the former leader. "Nissan has uncovered numerous acts of misconduct by Ghosn following a thorough internal investigation," the manufacturer, which is allied with Renault, said it had "irrefutable evidence of various reprehensible acts.

A declining car market. The American automobile market contracted by 1.3% in 2019 to 17.05 million new vehicles, according to Autodata data. Ford Motor for its part indicated that its sales had fallen by 3.2% over the period (2.41 million vehicles), while General Motors had already reported a contraction of 2.3% and Fiat Chrysler had reported a decline of 1%. At the two extremes are Tesla (+50%) and Nissan (-10%).

In other news. Chevron is withdrawing its expatriate staff from Northern Iraq. Pier 1 Imports will close 450 locations. EG Group is considering a counter-offensive on Caltex Australia, courted by Alimentation Couche-Tard. Burkhalter is buying an electrical engineering company in Davos. Uber joins forces with Hyundai in electric air taxis. Qualcomm develops an autonomous driving computer that should be available in 2023. Perrot Duval completes the sale of Infranor to China's Guangzhou Haozi. UBS Group will split its asset management business into three and cut 500 jobs. Premier Oil buys back $625 million of BP Plc's assets in the North Sea.