US MARKETS:

- S&P 500 futures up 0.5% to 2,653.75

- Brent futures up 1.8% to $63.63/bbl

- Gold spot up 0.2% to $1,224.29

- US Dollar Index down 0.1% to 96.77


GLOBAL NEWS:

Deutsche Bank hits new record-lows. Investors in Deutsche Bank AG worry about the lender’s role in Danske Bank’s money laundering scandal. A management shakeup, weak earnings and political turmoil in Italy and Turkey also saw Deutsche Bank shares hit multiple lows this year.

The White House invites the CEOs of the German automotive industry to discuss. The Trump administration has invited the CEOs of three German automakers for talks at the White House as European and U.S. government officials try to negotiate a new trade agreement.

Renault, the conspiracy? Carlos Ghosn remains at the helm of Renault for the time being: the Board of Directors has appointed a temporary team composed of the lead director Philippe Lagayette for the presidency and the deputy CEO Thierry Bolloré for the management of operations. The controversy is mounting over the reasons for the leader's banishment in Japan, while the FT claims that Ghosn was in the process of merging Renault and Nissan, to the great displeasure of the Japanese. A conspiracy theory is always attractive, but it remains to be proven.

Monsanto on appeal. Bayer's subsidiary is appealing its conviction in the Roundup case in the United States. A gardener had obtained $289 million from the group, convicted of masking the potential carcinogenicity of glyphosate. The penalty was subsequently reduced to $78.5 million.

"Degraded experience." A server problem caused a major failure at Facebook. The company did not talk about a "problem" or "failure", but "degraded experience for users". Everything seems to be back to normal at Facebook and Instagram.

Airbus putting his team together. Airbus has selected Dominik Asam (CFO of Infineon) as its future CFO and Michael Schollhorn (former COO of BSH Home Appliances, Bosch division) as its Chief Operating Officer. The group is in a phase of profound change in its senior management, particularly in the most strategic positions.

Axa makes changes. The insurer reduced its stake in its subsidiary Axa Equitable from 72.2 to 59.3% after placing new shares, which brought in USD 1.8 billion. An over-allotment option could provide Axa with an additional $200 million.

Tensions at ThyssenKrupp. The steelmaker remains nervous, this time about the remuneration of Daimler's CFO, who is expected to chair the management board. The supervisory board failed to reach an agreement.

Recapitalization in sight. Banca Carige will submit to its shareholders a capital increase project of 400 million euros, as well as a proposal to group 1,000 old shares into 1 new share, which will make it possible to settle the status of "penny stock" from which the share suffers... at 0.0017 EUR.

Trafigura to the rescue. The metals trader will lend $650 million to Nyrstar to enable it to operate, but the money cannot be used to refinance the bond debt, which is still under consideration for restructuring.

Generali wants to get bigger. The leading Italian insurer is looking at acquisitions in Europe and wants to boost its dividend, as part of his new medium-term plan. Assicurazioni Generali is the third largest European insurance company, behind Allianz and Axa.