US MARKETS:

S&P 500 futures down 0.1% to 2,952.75
Brent futures up 0.7% to $64.88/bbl
Gold spot little changed at $1,388.66
U.S. Dollar Index little changed at 96.64

GLOBAL NEWS:

Finally. Renault and Nissan have officially reached an agreement on the representation of the French group in the committees of the Japanese manufacturer's board of directors. Nissan will support the appointment of Jean-Dominique Senard as Vice-Chairman of its Board of Directors and member of the Appointments Committee, while Thierry Bolloré will be a director and member of the Audit Committee. In addition, the general meeting of Mitsubishi Motors voted on Friday to end Carlos Ghosn's term as a director.

Focus. H2O, in which Natixis holds 49.99%, denied that it faced liquidity problems on three of its funds after Morningstar suspended its rating on the Allegro fund. The management has published a question and answer notice on its website to answer professionals' questions about the funds concerned. Yesterday, the Natixis share lost nearly 12% in the wake of Morningstar's decision, which was available as of Wednesday. Analysts are divided: some, such as Jefferies, believe that the penalty is excessive, while others, such as HSBC, have lowered their opinion of the bank.

Merger in chemistry? Chevron Phillips Chemical (Chevron / Phillips 66 joint venture) reportedly proposed to buy Nova Chemicals for $15 billion, according to Reuters. This company is currently owned by the Abu Dhabi Mubadala Fund. No one wanted to comment on the news.

Lex Americana. Wal-Mart Stores will pay a $282 million fine to the US authorities for bribery of local leaders outside the United States. After 7 years of proceedings, the action will be terminated. The distributor was accused of having hired third parties to facilitate, through bribes, its establishment in certain markets, in particular in Brazil, China, India and Mexico.

Slack, 50% more on the intro. Thundering debut for Slack on Wall Street, with a title that's gone. The latest nugget of the American "tech", a platform for professional communication and project management, was quoted at USD 38.62 at closing after being introduced at USD 26. Curiosity, the company was introduced by direct listing, i.e. without raising funds. Spotify had done so in 2018.

Stop customs duties. After distributors and IT groups, new American companies are calling for an end to customs barriers, including Apple and Dollar Tree. It must be said, for example, that the apple brand would be particularly affected by the taxation of all Chinese imports, since its products and components are part of the bunk that is not yet burdened by the White House policy (see graph below, drawn from Barclays at the beginning of the month).


In other news. Telecom Italia has signed an agreement with CDP and Enel to initiate discussions to bring its optical fibre network closer to Open Fiber's network. Deutsche Bank expects to continue to be subject to restrictions in the United States, even if it successfully passes the resistance tests for which the verdict will be delivered tonight. UnitedHealth will spend $3.2 billion to buy Equian. Foxconn's boss, Terry Gou, will leave his post to run for the Taiwanese presidential elections in 2020.