US MARKETS:

S&P 500 futures down 0.1% to 2,935.00
Brent futures down 0.3% to $74.28/bbl
Gold spot up 0.1% to $1,273.46
US Dollar Index up 0.01% to 97.65


GLOBAL NEWS:

Earnings season. SAP, Heineken, Credit Suisse, Novartis, Volvo, Boeing, Caterpillar, AT&T, Facebook, Microsoft, Tesla and Visa are among companies reporting earnings today.

Samsung plans to Invest $116 billion In non-memory chips. Samsung Electronics will splurge $116 billion in nonmemory chips by 2030 to reduce its dependence on the memory chip market – prone to volatility - and develop chips to power autonomous cars and devices with artificial intelligence. This is a direct challenge to larger competitors such as TSMC And Qualcomm.

Back in July for the B737 MAX? Boeing hopes that the FAA will approve its new software in the third week of May, which could allow the B737 MAX to return to service in July, according to Reuters. However, there is no way at this stage to confirm any date. The manufacturer did not wish to comment.

Drone Postal. The FAA is also busy with Wing Aviation, Alphabet's subsidiary, which has just obtained the first certification for a UAV delivery service in the United States. The company was allowed to test the device in Virginia later this year.

UBS / DB management. The Financial Times has learned that Deutsche Bank and UBS are in "serious" discussions to marry their asset management businesses. Talks are reported to have started two months ago to create an entity that could have assets under management of €1,400 billion, roughly the same level as Amundi. According to the scheme that leaked, the relevant division of the Swiss bank could integrate DWS, DB's asset manager.

A new warning. According to the last rumors, Nissan is due to issue a new warning. The rumor was confirmed this morning as the manufacturer revised its 2018-2019 net income targets downwards, counting only 319 billion yen against 410 previously. Detailed results are expected by May 14. The Japanese manufacturer has also appointed Yasuhiro Yamauchi as Deputy Managing Director. While Carlos Ghosn is still in prison, things do not seem to be going well with the Japanese industrialist.

Softbank to the rescue of Wirecard. Softbank is investing 900 million euros in Wirecard via convertibles, which could eventually confer 5.6% of the capital. The exercise price was set at EUR 130. This capital-intensive partnership is combined with a commercial agreement in payment solutions.

In other news. The CEO of ING Groep stated at the general meeting that he was ready to consider an acquisition abroad if the conditions were met. Hitachi acquires the American JR Automation for $1.43 billion. CBS is suspending the search for a new CEO by confirming its interim boss, Joe Ianniello, until the end of the year. Snap, eBay, Twitter and Hasbro have published well received results. Texas Instruments also initially, although the subsequent presentation conference resulted in the share dropping after the session.