US MARKETS:

-S&P 500 futures down 0.2% to 2,737.00
-Brent futures up 0.3% to $64.78/bbl
-Gold spot up 0.2% to $1,315.38
-U.S. Dollar Index up 0.1% to 97.04

GLOBAL NEWS:

Earnings season. PepsiCo, Deere, Moody's and Yandex are among companies reporting in the United States. In Asia, Taiwan Semiconductor and Bridgestone, while in Europe, we have Allianz, Royal Bank of Scotland, Eni, Kuka and Saab.

Arbitrations. Berkshire Hathaway has moved out of Oracle and reduced its exposure to Apple, while investing in Red Hat and Suncor Energy, according to documents released yesterday. The decision on Oracle came as a surprise because the position had been taken in November. Warren Buffett's holding company has also strengthened its JP Morgan line and invested in the Brazilian StoneCo, listed in New York.

Unlike. The American authorities and Facebook are in the process of negotiating the amount of the fine that will be imposed on the company: a sum of several billion dollars is mentioned by the Washington Post. Facebook will be punished for repeated breaches in the protection of its users' data.

Unwanted Amazon. Faced with fierce opposition from residents and local elected officials, Amazon decided not to open a second headquarters in New York. Opponents criticized the lack of consultation on the project and the tax gifts given to the company in exchange for its arrival. 25,000 jobs were at stake.

Tensions are rising between the French and Dutch sides of Air France-KLM. Yesterday, several hundred KLM employees loudly expressed their support for their leader Pieter Elbers, who could be threatened by Ben Smith's strategy. A petition from 25,000 of the 35,000 employees in the Dutch branch has been submitted to the President of Air France KLM.

Publications barometer. The American semiconductor group Nvidia is reassuring with its quarterly sales, which is worth an 8% increase off-session and should help companies in the sector in Europe. Like Michelin earlier this week, Pirelli published solid figures, unlike the American carrier XPO Logistics (parent company of XPO Logistics Europe), whose stock plunged after the Wall Street session. Consensus failed also for CBS.

Transformation plan. The new general manager of the Danish jeweler Pandora is Alexander Lacik. He will have the difficult task of carrying out the company's transformation plan.

In other news. Vivendi has written down its stake in Telecom Italia by just over €1 billion. According to Reuters, Alibaba is in negotiations to acquire a stake in Metro's Chinese division. Panalpina could join forces with Kuwaiti Agility, according to Bloomberg, to defend itself against DSV. Finally, Ford and Volkswagen are allegedly making progress towards an alliance in the electric vehicle, while the rumors of the week were more of a bone of contention.