US MARKETS:

S&P 500 futures down 0.1% to 2,963.50
Brent futures down 0.3% to $64.88/bbl
Gold spot up 0.6% to $1,393.11
US Dollar Index down 0.1% to 96.79

GLOBAL NEWS:

Saudi Aramco nearing IPO. Saudi Aramco has recently been talking with a group of investment banks in a bid to launch a potential initial public offering, Bloomberg reports. The IPO of Saudi Arabia’s state-owned company was initially planned for 2018 but was postponed.

AB InBev launches IPO in Asia. Today, AB InBev launched the initial public offering of its Asian operations on the Hong Kong stock exchange. The group could raise between $8.3 billion and $9.8 billion, according to Reuters, who saw documents about this transaction.  The group will have a market capitalization of around $63.7 billion after the IPO.

WPP to sell Kantar. The advertising group is in discussion with Bain Capital to sell a majority stake in Kantar. The WPP group has entered into exclusive negotiations with the investment fund Bain Capital, according to a report from Reuters, in order to sell a majority shareholding in the consumer research and data company Kantar. This historical division contributes 15% of the group's turnover (£15.6 billion), and is estimated, according to WPP, at $4 billion or €3.55 billion. However, the communication giant points out that nothing is signed, and that "there is no certainty that these discussions will lead to a transaction involving Kantar".

L'Oréal eyes Mugler and Azzaro. The French cosmetics giant is negotiating with the Clarins group to acquire the Mugler and Azzaro brands. The sale could take place in the second half of 2019, according to French newspaper les Echos. Mugler and Azzaro represent approximately 26% of Clarins' 2018 annual sales of €1.6 billion.

BMW and Daimler launch new app. The two German car manufacturers are launching their Free Now service today, an app that combines their taxi, VTC and electric scooter booking offers. Most of the €1 billion investment announced by BMW and Daimler in February was dedicated to this app, which the two brands see as the future of mobility.

Samsung wants to compete in the voice assistants’ race. The Korean giant has just launched an app store in the United States and South Korea for its voice assistant Bixby, in a bid to compete with Alexa and Google.