Earnings season. Bank of New York Mellon, Home BancShares, Morgan Stanley, PPG Industries and Progress Software are among companies reporting earnings today.

Morgan Stanley was up 1.5% in pre-exchange trading after its announced that its quarterly profit was better-than-expected, soaring 53% year-on-year thanks to the dynamism of its bond trading activity and subscription revenues.

The Bank of New York Mellon’s profit jumped by 67% in the fourth quarter thanks to the sale of an equity investment.

Bad behavior. American Outdoor Brands announced the departure of its chief executive officer, James Debney, due to behavior inconsistent with the company's code of conduct.

Tesla opens D&R center. The American electric car manufacturer Tesla plans to open a design and research centre in China to manufacture vehicles according to Chinese standards. The news comes from Tesla's official account on WeChat. It is currently recruiting designers and staff for a site in China, but did not specify the exact location.

No cuts to the A330neo. Airbus believes that demand for the A330neo is sufficient to keep production stable, said sales director Christian Scherer. Last year, the aircraft received 99 orders. Scherer also said that the reduction in production costs for the A220, the program acquired from Bombardier, is progressing well.

Ghosn defenseless. Carlos Ghosn's main lawyer in Japan, Junichiro Hironaka, resigned after the former Renault and Nissan CEO fled to Lebanon. The information had first been published by the NHK channel, before being confirmed by the lawyer. All the members of the cabinet resigned.

Blackmail. Washington allegedly threatened to tax the European auto industry if France, Great Britain and Germany refused to use the dispute resolution mechanism on the Iranian nuclear program, which they eventually accepted. The information comes from the Washington Post and good sources cited by Reuters. The European car is at the heart of the blackmail orchestrated by the United States, once again.

A good omen. Taiwanese foundry Taiwan Semiconductor (TSMC) is guiding on higher than expected sales forecasts and exceeds the consensus on its results. It has also suggested that its investments will be higher than expected in 2020. This is generally a good indicator for the semiconductor industry.

Towards separation. XPO Logistics is considering a demerger of its activities. At this stage, all options are being considered and there is no guarantee that any of them will be successful. The timing of the operations has not been communicated either. The fate of the subsidiary listed in Europe is not known.

In other news. Alcoa in losses in the fourth quarter, sees an upturn this year. Women earn 27% less than men, on average, at Citigroup. ZTE is planning a $1.7 billion capital increase to finance its R&D on 5G. Toyota is investing $394m in the flying taxi startup Joby Aviation. Geberit's revenues are spread over 3.08 billion Swiss francs in 2019. At the end of 2019, Partners Group passed the €80bn mark in assets under management to reach €83.9bn, up 5% in the second half of the year alone. DKSH concludes a contract with Cheplapharm in Taiwan.