Earnings season: Alibaba, AIA Group, The Estée Lauder, Adyen, CRH, Investment AB, ASX Limited, Banque Cantonale Vaudoise, Rockwool, Qantas Airways and TAG Immobilien are among companies reporting their earnings today.

A few results:

Adyen: the Dutch payment specialist recorded a half-year Ebitda of €141 million, up 11.9%, for revenues up 27% to €280 million. Management indicates that the financial projections provided in connection with the company's IPO are confirmed.

Kudelski: Half-year results are below forecasts, with revenues down 20% and a net loss of €27.1 million. Annual Ebitda is expected to be between $45 and $55 million, which will require a downward consensus adjustment.

Nvidia: Quarterly results are better than expected, but receive a lukewarm reception from investors.

Qantas: the Australian airline company is posting losses of nearly AUD$2bn at the end of its 2019/2020 financial year and expects a heavy loss for the new vintage.

FB is cleaning up its act. Facebook deletes hundreds of groups linked to the QAnon conspiracy. Donald Trump conceded that he was unfamiliar with this movement, although he knows that he is sympathetic to it. There will be a lot of business in the weeks leading up to the American election concerning social networks, freedom of expression, and conspiracy theories.

Eraser's tip. Goodyear is heckled on the stock market after an attack by Donald Trump, who called for a boycott of the brand because it banned political slogans within the company. "Don't buy Goodyear tires," he tweeted. The group replied that its employees should not disclose their political affiliation, whatever it may be, in the workplace.

Accor is considering Intercontinental. According to information obtained by French newspaper Le Figaro, Accor has recently been considering a merger with Intercontinental Hotels, but without going so far as to enter into talks. A small team supported by Rothschild and Centerview reportedly began working on the project in June. Accor's board of directors is in favor, but its CEO, Sébastien Bazin, is more reticent, the source said.

DAX buries a bulky member. Delivery Hero will try to restore the image of German growth companies in DAX, replacing Wirecard. The operator of the German indices before had to change his rules to get the failing company out of the mess as quickly as possible. The replacement will be effective on August 24.

Another one bites the dust. Valaris, a world leader in offshore drilling, has filed for bankruptcy protection in the United States. This new "Chapter 11" shows how much the sector has been shaken in 2020. Last week, Hermitage Offshore also filed for bankruptcy. Other companies in the sector have expressed their difficulties.

In other news. A block of 2.7% of Securitas AB's capital was traded off-market at SEK 118.66 each. Deutsche Lufthansa signed an agreement with its pilots on a package of cost-cutting measures which should prevent job cuts for six months. Apple briefly passed the symbolic $2 trillion capitalization milestone during yesterday's session. As rumors suggested, Airbnb filed a preliminary dossier for an IPO with the SEC in the United States on Wednesday. According to information from Nikkei, Hitachi could sell its share in Hitachi Metals. The Bank of Nova Scotia will pay $127 million to shut down a price manipulation investigation.