US MARKETS:

S&P 500 futures little changed at 2,924.50
Brent futures down 0.5% to $61.82/bbl
Gold spot down 0.3% to $1,342.61
US Dollar Index little changed at 97.60

GLOBAL NEWS:

Bis Repetita. CBS Corp is preparing an offer for Viacom, which will be announced in the coming weeks. The rumor of a merger of the two companies, which were evolving together some fifteen years ago, is recurrent. It remains to be agreed on the valuation. Two previous attempts have failed.

Axalta (still) for sale. The American paint company Axalta Coating is for sale, or at least has "undertaken a strategic review to maximize shareholder value". It is therefore for sale. In 2017, Akzo Nobel negotiated a takeover, before being doubled by Nippon Paint. In the end, nothing happened, as the Japanese offer ($9.1 billion according to rumors) was considered too cheap. Axalta's largest shareholder is a Berkshire Hathaway, Warren Buffett's investment vehicle.

Exodus. Apple is reported to have asked its main suppliers to assess the financial consequences of taking 15 to 30% of China's production out of China, according to Nikkei. Several countries including India and Vietnam were mentioned, but not the United States.

Slimming cure. Siemens is following General Electric by cutting 2,700 fewer jobs in its Energy division, in addition to the 10,400 already planned in the conglomerate. Siemens has planned to list this division on the stock market in a curious timing, since it is experiencing difficulties in a sector that remains very complicated.

Bayer is counter-attacking. Bayer AG is asking the American courts to ignore the jury's decision to pay more than $2 billion into the Roundup case. The action brought by the group is based on the absence of evidence, from its point of view. Bayer asks the judge to postpone the jury's verdict or to hold a new trial.

Out-of-court. The United States would be willing to accept a mechanism with the EU to stop attacks and counter-attacks on Airbus and Boeing before the WTO. The European industrialist could receive subsidies under certain conditions while the American group would continue to benefit from tax advantages in the United States, but in accordance with the commercial rules in force. A compromise would be great news on this issue, which is a waste of time and money on both sides of the Atlantic.

Club of three. Bernard Arnault (LVMH) joins Jeff Bezos (Amazon.com) and Bill Gates (Microsoft) in the club of billionaires with more than $100 billion in the Bloomberg ranking. The index took into account the new increase in the LVMH share yesterday. The group now capitalizes more than 180 billion euros.

Dissonant rumors. Nissan reportedly proposed to Renault the creation of a new committee on which the president and CEO of the French company would sit, according to Nikkei. But at the same time, the Financial Times reveals that some of the collaborative structures between the two groups are being dismantled due to a lack of projects. "Several of the functions in charge of joint activities between Renault and Nissan have been discreetly deconstructed, while the alliance is falling apart in Carlos Ghosn's absence, according to several current and former employees," writes the British business daily.

Reassured? Boeing receives some relief from International Consolidated Airlines (British Airways, Iberia) at the Paris Air Show, with an order for 200 B737 MAX. The carrier is obviously trusting the controversial aircraft, which is still waiting to be put back into service.

In other news. South Africa's Steinhoff lost €1.2 billion in 2018, partly due to the accounting fraud scandal revealed in 2017. Dish Network is in pole position to buy $6 billion of assets from Sprint and T-Mobile US in the event of a marriage between the two operators. Amazon.com is expanding its fleet of cargo aircraft to meet demand. Adobe's results are beyond consensus. Google ready to invest $ 1 billion in California real estate to address the housing shortage crisis in the San Francisco area. Polyphor launches a phase III with balixafortide against breast cancer. ABB is strengthening its collaboration with Hewlett Packard Enterprise.