Economy
New EU sanctions against Russia are expected to be implemented tomorrow, expanding upon the previous sanctions introduced in July. The restrictions will bar sales of dual-use technologies, bar Russian military companies from EU fundraising and most importantly hit state-controlled banks and oil companies, including Gazpromneft, refining subsidiary of Gazprom (OTCPK:OGZPY), Transneft and Rosneft (OTC:RNFTF). Despite a new ceasefire agreed on by Kiev and pro-Russia rebels on Friday, fighting continued to plague two cities in Ukraine's east over the weekend.

Revised figures now show that Japan's real GDP shrank an annualized 7.1% between April and June, topping the 6.8% fall reported two weeks ago, due to a bigger than expected decrease in capital expenditure and decline in consumer spending. The contraction marks the country's biggest slump since the first quarter of 2009, and puts pressure on Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's decision, expected by year-end, on whether to proceed with a scheduled second increase in the sales tax to 10%.

Stocks
General Electric has signed a definitive agreement to sell its appliance business to Electrolux (OTC:ELUXF, OTCPK:ELUXY) for $3.3B. "GE's (NYSE:GE) premium, high-quality appliances complement our own iconic brands and will enhance our presence in North America" says Electrolux CEO Keith McLoughlin. Electrolux will continue use of the GE Appliances brand following the close of the transaction (targeted for 2015).

Vodafone is developing a new mobile payments service with Visa (NYSE:V) which will allow for contactless payments via SIM cards embedded with NFC technology. Launching the service later this year, Vodafone (NASDAQ:VOD) will probably be beaten to the market by Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL), which is expected to integrate mobile payments into its new iPhone due to be unveiled this week.

Amazon has entered advanced talks to sell its new Fire phone exclusively through Telefonica's (NYSE:TEF) O2 in the U.K., and a partnership between the two could be announced as early as this week. Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) previously struck an exclusive deal with AT&T (NYSE:T) when it launched the phone in the U.S. this past summer, but the device has met with mixed reviews and reports of sluggish sales.

Alibaba will kick off its roadshow in New York today, and will hold 100 meetings worldwide before returning to the Big Apple to price its stock on Sept. 18. On Friday, Alibaba (Pending:BABA) set an IPO price range of $60-$66 (totaling a valuation range of $147.9B-$162.7B), which is well below expectations for a valuation of more than $200B. Analysts say the "below market" pricing may seek to avoid a repetition of Facebook's (NASDAQ:FB) overvalued debut, which resulted in shares losing one-third of their value within two months.

Rakuten is in talks to buy U.S. website operator Ebates Shopping.com, in what would be the Japanese company’s fifth major overseas investment over the past year. Rakuten's (OTCPK:RKUNF, OTCPK:RKUNY) owner, billionaire Hiroshi Mikitani, has been looking to expand the company's presence in the U.S. market due to the rising competition of Amazon (AMZN) and newer players such as China’s Alibaba (BABA). The deal is expected to be announced at the end of the week and may fetch as high as $950M.

A long-running insider trading case involving more than half a dozen current and former managers at Airbus (OTCPK:EADSY) will be heard at a Paris court next month, says Reuters quoting Der Spiegel magazine. The case dates back to 2006 and alleges that the managers knew of delays to the A380 superjumbo project when they sold shares in former Airbus parent EADS. The announcement of delays subsequently led to a steep fall in stock price.

Boeing and Ryanair will make a "significant fleet" announcement this morning, following reports last Friday of a potential $10B purchase. The reports stated that Ryanair (NASDAQ:RYAAY) was in advanced talks with Boeing (NYSE:BA) to purchase at least a hundred 737 MAX jetliners that were modified to hold 200 seats. A new order would widen Boeing's order lead over Airbus (OTCPK:EADSY) if the deal is confirmed. At the end of August, Boeing had 1,004 total orders, while Airbus had 1,001.

Stepping further back from the solar industry, Sharp (OTCPK:SHCAY) is looking to sell its U.S. solar-energy development unit Recurrent Energy. Sharp previously paid $305M in cash to acquire the business in 2010, although a sale would now help the company raise capital as it struggles to increase its equity ratio to a healthy level. Sharp stopped making solar panels in the U.S. and U.K. earlier this year and pulled out of a panel-manufacturing joint venture with Italy's Enel (OTCPK:ENLAY).

General Motors is planning to launch cars by 2016 with a hands-free automated driving system and vehicle-to-vehicle communications designed to help avoid collisions. While commercializing a fully automated vehicle may take until the next decade, the new GM (NYSE:GM) vehicles will still require drivers to pay attention to the road, says CEO Mary Barra. The company is in the midst of developing cyber security protections for the new technology and is awaiting final requirements from U.S. regulators.

Following months of takeover speculation and a strategic review that started in May, Bloomberg now says that CenturyLink (NYSE:CTL) is looking to acquire Rackspace (NYSE:RAX). A deal would enable CenturyLink to better rival competitors by expanding its offerings of Internet and cloud services. Rackspace’s sales climbed 17% in 2013 to $1.5B, with $415.2M coming from cloud computing. CenturyLink’s revenue declined 1.5% to $18.1B last year.

Carlyle Group has closed its fourth Asia fund at $3.9B, taking the firm's total amount of assets managed by its Asia funds, including Japan, to $13.6B. Carlyle (NASDAQ:CG) along with other PE firms have raised record amounts in recent years for Asia-focused funds, with TPG closing a $3.3B fund in May and KKR (NYSE:KKR) raising a $6B fund last year.

Today's economic calendar:

12:30 TD Ameritrade IMX
3:00 PM Consumer Credit

Notable earnings before today's open: CPB

Notable earnings after today's close: CASY, FCEL, FN, KFY, PBY, TPLM