US MARKETS:

 

S&P 500 futures little changed at 3,034.50

Brent futures down 0.5% to $61.24/bbl

Gold spot up 0.1% to $1,494.36

US Dollar Index up 0.1% to 97.84

 

GLOBAL NEWS:

 

Earnings season: Mastercard, Merck, Pfizer, L'Oréal, BP Plc, Amgen, Mondelez, Orange, Fresenius, Beiersdorf, Straumann, Stora Enso and Seb are among companies reporting earnings today.

 

Episode XXXIV. The Japanese prosecutor's office has evidence to implicate Carlos Ghosn for the private use of funds belonging to Nissan, according to the newspaper Yomiuri. The treasury accuses the former Renault manager of having paid his sister for several years for fictitious work and of having made donations to Lebanese universities. However, the investigation did not result in any criminal proceedings.

 

Medidata acquired. Dassault Systèmes has completed the acquisition of Medidata to strengthen its positions in healthcare. This is the largest acquisition ever made by the company, who spent $5.8 billion. "The life sciences industry will thus become Dassault Systèmes' second most important industry after that of transport and mobility," emphasizes the buyer.

 

New C-Band offer. The C-Band Alliance consortium is ready to release 300 megahertz of C-band spectrum to enable the deployment of 5G in the United States, one third more than initially proposed. The American FCC must give its opinion on this proposal. In exchange, satellite operators, including SES, would be compensated with potentially huge sums at stake, in the order of several billion dollars.

 

The cost of catching up. Alphabet was dropping after the US session and the release of its quarterly results, below expectations due to the costs of getting up to speed with the competition, Amazon.com and Microsoft, in the cloud. Net profit decreased by 23% in the quarter, due to higher investments and the fine paid in France. The share was down 1.6% after the announcement.

 

AT&T folds. AT&T will appoint additional directors and sell $10 billion in assets in response to the grievances of the activist fund Elliott Management. "We congratulate AT&T for the positive measures announced today that should create value in a consistent and sustainable way within one of the largest American companies," said the fund, which is also advocating for the separation of the functions of president and CEO.

 

Beiersdorf, while waiting for L'Oréal. The German published disappointing quarterly results this morning (3.3% organic growth vs. 4.4% by consensus). Beiersdorf confirmed its forecasts despite a downward adjustment in the expectations of its Tesa division. The dermatology branch, on the other hand, is doing rather well.

 

Hearing on the B737 MAX. Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg has planned to make the industry's mea culpa on the B737 MAX at a hearing before American parliamentarians, the content of which has been released. "We have learned and continue to learn from these accidents. We are aware that we have made mistakes," he said. As for the date of resumption of B737 MAX flights, it remains uncertain.

 

Standards battle. General Motors, Toyota and Fiat Chrysler support the U.S. federal administration in preventing California from adopting stricter pollution standards. These manufacturers have launched legal proceedings to support Washington's decision to remove the West's rights to enforce its own environmental standards, according to the New York Times.

 

In other news. Beyond Meat is raising its 2019 forecast. Marathon Petroleum would like to split its network of gas stations, the Wall Street Journal reported. Space tourism company Virgin Galactic went public yesterday on Wall Street, based on a valuation of $969 million. Moody's invests in SynTao Green Finance. Tiffany's share price soared to USD 129.72 on Wall Street after LVMH's offer to buy back the company at USD 122, suggesting a price adjustment. Spotify is taking the market by storm with quarterly profits and a significant increase in the number of subscribers. African Export-Import Bank reports its IPO in London. Roche forced to extend its offer on Spark Therapeutics, requires a decision by competition authorities. Saudi Aramco could launch its IPO on November 3, according to Reuters. Sweden officially opens an anti-money laundering investigation on Swedbank. Koninklijke VolkerWessels' majority shareholder, Reggeborgh, has sent the company a potential takeover bid at EUR 21.75 (including the interim dividend). General Motors, Kellogg and Mastercard published above expectations. Pfizer and Merck are meeting their objectives.