US MARKETS:

S&P 500 futures down 0.03% to 2,929.75
Brent Futures up 0.9% to $75.25/bbl
Gold spot up 0.2% to $1,277.62
US Dollar Index up 0.01% to 98.18

GLOBAL NEWS:

Earnings season. Hermès International, Bayer, Iberdrola, UBS, Relx, Barclays, Peugeot, Nokia, Atos, Assa Abloy, Kone, Capgemini, Amazon.com, Intel, Comcast, 3M, AbbVie, Altria, United Parcel Service, Starbucks and Nintendo are among companies reporting earnings today.

Veto. The UK competition authorities prevented the merger between Asda (Walmart) and J Sainsbury in the United Kingdom. The two distributors have abandoned the operation, they announced this morning.

Solid publications for tech giants. Microsoft, Facebook and Visa published solid quarterly results last night after the close of the US market. On the other hand, Tesla is losing more than expected, which raises the possibility of a fundraising event. This hypothesis was reinforced by Elon Musk himself, who suggested at the results presentation conference that it may be time for Tesla to seek new funding.

Hard line. The US Department of Justice would argue that Goldman Sachs must plead guilty in the 1MDB scandal if the bank wants to get an arrangement, according to the Financial Times. A guilty plea could have serious consequences for the American giant's banking license... but other sources suggest that the high authorities may not follow this position and may be a little more flexible. Goldman Sachs continues to support its initial line of defense that its officers were not aware of the actions of the employees concerned.

A merger that is debatable. The outcry of investors and employees against the merger of Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank caused the project to fail. The cessation of discussions has been formalized.

The duel continues. A new arms deal took place between the British business daily and Wirecard yesterday, after a new FT article broaching the German's accounting practices, which replied that all its audits are conducted in accordance with the law. The publication suggests that a large part of the group's profits came from a subsidiary in Dubai, which was not audited in 2016 and 2017. Wirecard also published its results this morning. This open war between the media and the company is disconcerting.

Tax arrears. Gucci is reportedly close to reaching an agreement with the Italian tax authorities to settle a dispute involving €1.4 billion. Kering's subsidiary has allegedly agreed to pay between €1.3 billion and €1.4 billion to terminate the ongoing proceedings, according to Reuters. This amount had already been mentioned by the company, but it was disputed.

New release. A Tokyo court has approved the release on bail of Carlos Ghosn (Renault, Nissan), although there could be a possible appeal by the prosecutor's office. The former director will have to pay 500 million yen, or about 4 million euros, after having already paid 1 billion yen for his initial release. He was first released on March 6, after spending 108 days in prison on suspicion of financial malpractice.

Amundi comes out of the woods. While rumors of discussions for a merger between Deutsche Bank and UBS asset managers have been circulating since yesterday, Amundi (Credit Agricole) and Allianz are also interested in a transaction on DB, Reuters learned. A DB / UBS merger in asset management would create a major player such as Amundi in terms of assets under management.

There's going to be sports. EssilorLuxottica's Board of Directors is opposed to additional draft resolutions submitted by shareholders, which called for more independent representatives on the Board. However, the position was adopted by a majority and not unanimously by the Board. The general meeting is scheduled to take place on May 16 and promises to be animated, given the fierce battle between the Italian and French factions that are opposing each other within the company.

In other news. The Supervisory Board of ThyssenKrupp will examine the proposed demerger of the Chairman of the Executive Board in the light of market conditions. Portuguese EDP will not be acquired by Chinese CTG after shareholders rejected a proposal to remove the voting rights limitation. Tilray has inaugurated its Portuguese plant to supply medical cannabis in Europe. The Slack messaging platform could publish its IPO prospectus before the end of the week. Ross McEwan will resign as CEO of Royal Bank of Scotland.