Earnings season. Johnson & Johnson, Netflix, Bank of America, Abbott, Morgan Stanley, Atlas Copco, Vinci, Compagnie Financière Richemont, Experian, Sandvik, Telenor and Zalando are among companies reporting their results today.

New progress in the vaccine race. China has approved a preliminary human trial of the experimental COVID-19 vaccine of the German firm BioNTech, listed on Wall Street, said Thursday its local partner Shanghai Fosun Pharmaceutical.

Twitter hacked. Twitter said hackers broke into his internal systems on Wednesday to hijack the accounts of some of the most followed personalities on the social network and use them to harvest cryptography.

Stellantis, a new transalpine group. The company born from the merger of Peugeot and Fiat Chrysler has been named Stellantis, a name reserved for corporate functions and not for car brands. The two manufacturers have drawn on their common history to adopt a derivative of the Latin word stello, "which means to shine with stars," explains the press release.

Aerial employment in turbulent times. American Airlines has warned 25,000 of its employees of the risk of losing their jobs in the autumn, after the expiry of the deadline prohibiting state-supported airlines from laying off staff. The scenario for the recovery of the airline industry is not as favorable as expected in the United States, especially after the latest containment decisions by some states. The group has around 130,000 employees. All major US airlines have warned of a high risk of mass layoffs in the coming months.

TSMC shines. The Taiwanese semiconductor giant Taiwan Semiconductor recorded a profit explosion in the second quarter that was well above market expectations. Figures that could have a positive influence on other players in the industry.

Luxury goods suffered between April and June. Compagnie Financière Richemont reported a 47% drop in sales over the period, which constitutes the first quarter of its 2020/2021 financial year. The Geneva group has not provided any precise forecast for the rest of the financial year. Its quarterly performance is slightly below market expectations.

Dell confirms VMware imminent move. Dell Technologies is still considering the future of its stake in VMware, with the possibility of a demerger. The group's share price was up 7% after the close of trading on Wall Street. This confirmation of a strategic reflection comes after the American economic press revealed the existence of such a project in June. Dell owns 81% of VMware.

Banking secrecy. UBS Group AG will no longer be informed and will no longer be able to contest the transfer by the Swiss authorities to their French counterparts of information relating to their clients, the Swiss court has ruled. The Federal Administrative Court rejected the institution's appeal, which sought to retain its status as a party in the files for the transfer of customer personal data to France.

In other news. Walmart and Kroger require that masks be worn in their stores in the United States. Apple launches its first podcasts, including a daily newsletter. Infosys goes public in India after exceeding earnings expectations. Novartis offers 15 medicines at cost in disadvantaged countries. Idorsia opens a commercial structure in the US.