US MARKETS:

S&P 500 futures up 0.6% to 2,981.75

Brent Futures down 0.6% to $59.00/bbl

Gold spot down 0.09% to $1,491.86

US Dollar Index down 0.04% to 98.42

 

GLOBAL NEWS:

Earnings season: JPMorgan Chase, Johnson & Johnson, Wells Fargo, Citigroup, Rio Tinto, Goldman Sachs, J.B. Hunt, Merlin Entertainment, Soitec, Hays and Vilmorin are among companies reporting earnings today.

A risky strategy for J&J. The American press, particularly the Wall Street Journal, highlights the increasing pressure on Johnson & Johnson, in the eye of the storm, due to its aggressive business practices and consumer information policy. The group, faced with complaints from more than 100,000 people, “has taken the aggressive strategy of battling many of the cases in court. And it is losing. A lot.” writes the WSJ.

It's up to you to leave. After Visa, PayPal or eBay, it is Booking that abandons the Libra ship. However, the association for the management of cryptocurrency was set up yesterday in Geneva by 21 founding members. Its Secretary General, Bertrand Perez, did not rule out a later-than-expected deployment.

Wirecard, again. The stock of the German financial services group, which now appears in the DAX, is sinking once again after revelations from the FT, which had already attacked the case several weeks ago. This time, the British newspaper published internal documents in support of its theory on Wirecard AG. The company is once again defending itself against the charges.

WeWork’s future in doubt. Softbank is seeking to take control of WeWork through a refinancing plan, but it would prefer to go into debt with JPMorgan Chase, according to the latest rumors. The Japanese group could thus have better control over its previously misdirected investment, since we are now talking about a valuation of less than $10 billion for the company, while sums approaching $50 billion were still being discussed during the summer.

In other news:  UAW met with its members' local representatives on Thursday for an update on discussions with General Motors after a month of strike action. For the CEO of Royal Dutch Shell interviewed by Reuters, there is no alternative at the moment, you have to invest in oil: "despite what many activists say, it is legitimate to invest in oil and gas because the world is asking for it". Harley-Davidson stops producing its first electric motorcycle after discovering a problem with the loading system. Uber will cut 350 jobs to rebalance its accounts. Implenia wins a CHF 270 million project in Vernier. Lonza and Genmab have extended their development and manufacturing partnership. Indivior has raised its forecasts.