US MARKETS:

-S&P 500 futures up 0.2% to 2,636.25

-Brent futures up 0.7% to $61.94/bbl

-Gold spot little changed at $1,285.00

-US Dollar Index little changed at 96.36


GLOBAL NEWS:

IBM posts strong results. International Business Machines issued a positive outlook for 2019 as it surpassed analysts’ expectations for quarterly sales and earnings, boosted by its business that helps companies and governments manage their technology. Revenues reached $21.8 billion in the fourth quarter. Shares jumped 6 percent after the announcement.

Telecom Italia CEO eyes fiber deal. The chief executive of Telecom Italia, Luigi Gubitosi, is looking at securing a network-sharing deal or merger with smaller rival Open Fiber, according to people familiar with the matter quoted by Bloomberg.

Neopost changes strategy. The group unveiled its new 2019 / 2022 strategy while also mentioning the acquisition of the American company Parcel Pending, a specialist in automatic lockers. Neopost will contribute more than $100 million to this transaction.

IBM extends its agreement with BNP. International Business Machines has signed a major IT agreement with BNP Paribas, worth about $2 billion over eight years, according to Bloomberg. The American will provide the bank with cloud services.

Michelin Man in Indonesia. Michelin will take control of Indonesian tyre manufacturer PT Multistrada Arah Sarana for €386 million. The tyre manufacturer will also take 20% of a local distribution network. The overall valuation of the transaction was €610 million, a multiple of 6.3 times the Ebitda.

Refocusing for Telefonica? The Spanish operator plans to divest its Latin American operations to reduce its debt. Telefonica has offices in Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Nicaragua and Panama. In the last rumors, America Movil was looking at some assets.

Saipem in turmoil. The Italian oil services group is involved in a major accounting manipulation case. The Milan Public Prosecutor's Office has opened an investigation against not only Saipem but also several of its managers, including its Chief Executive Officer.

The DB covered by the SEC? The Fed is investigate Deutsche Bank in the Danske Bank case, according to Bloomberg. This would be yet another hard blow for the German bank, which is accumulating setbacks.

Departures from GE. General Electric will cut 460 jobs out of 6,000 in France, as part of a voluntary redundancy plan according to French newspaper Libération, which obtained details from the industrial trade unions. This was expected, however, because of the difficulties of the conglomerate.

Apollo buys RPC. The rumor is confirmed: the fund will buy the British packaging specialist RPC Group for £3.3 billion in cash, or GBP 782 per share.

In other news. Sony will move its European headquarters from the United Kingdom to the Netherlands. Deutsche Börse raises its forecasts. IBM exceeds the consensus. The Financial Times reports that Vodafone will relocate 2700 employees as part of its restructuring. Clariant is partnering with Exxon Mobil and REG in biofuels.