Economy
Producer prices in the EU continued to fall in August, with Eurostat displaying new figures of a 0.1% drop from July. Goods leaving the eurozone's factory gates were down 1.4% from August 2013. The fall indicates that the currency area is set to remain mired in a state of very low inflation, weakening the eurozone's fragile economy even further. The producer price figures were released as members of the ECB's governing council meet in Naples, Italy, to decide upon further stimulus measures.

After a long tussle over inflation policy with the economy minister Axel Kicillof, Argentina's central bank chief Juan Carlos Fabrega has resigned. Fabrega had argued for tighter anti-inflation policies and opposed the government's heavy fiscal spending, in stark contrast to Kicillof, who pushed to boost growth in the stagnating economy. Economists estimate that inflation is climbing to as high as 40% in the country. Argentina's Merval Index closed down 8.2% yesterday, with rumors surfacing of the resignation prior to the market close.

Stocks
"About time to unveil the D and something else," tweeted Tesla's (NASDAQ:TSLA) Elon Musk with an accompanying photo displaying an Oct. 9 date. Just what either of those entail is still unknown, although Musk has previously suggested that the third generation of Teslas would involve both the long-awaited "budget" sedan and an SUV smaller than the Model X. Tesla +2.6% premarket.

Despite raising concerns last month regarding Expedia's (NASDAQ:EXPE) takeover of Wotif.com (OTCPK:WTIFY), Australia's Competition and Consumer Commission has cleared the $660M deal. The antitrust regulator says that the acquisition is unlikely to diminish the dynamic nature of the online accommodation distribution market.

Sirius XM Radio will appeal a California federal judge's ruling stating it violated state copyright laws for airing pre-1972 songs by the band, The Turtles, without paying royalties. Last month, U.S. District Judge Philip Gutierrez found that California law gave the band copyright protection, although federal copyright only applies to recordings made after February 1972. The outcome of the case will have wide reaching implications for not only Sirius XM (NASDAQ:SIRI), but for the digital music industry and public venues as well.

With carriers turning cautious amid slowing subscriber growth and intense price pressure, R$5.8B ($2.4B) was spent during a closely-watched auction for Brazilian 4G spectrum, far less than the R$8B the government was hoping to raise. America Movil (NYSE:AMX) bought a chunk of the airwaves, as did Telefonica's (NYSE:TEF) Vivo (NYSE:VIV) and Telecom Italia's (NYSE:TI) TIM Participacoes (NYSE:TSU). Oi (NYSE:OIBR), looking to strengthen its balance sheet follow the Portugal Telecom deal, decided to pass.

The FCC is also prepping its upcoming auction of frequencies known as AWS-3, scheduled to begin on Nov. 13. The auction is expected to raise at least $10B and will include airwaves previously occupied by multiple federal users. A total of 80 entities submitted initial applications, including Dish Network (NASDAQ:DISH) and three of the four largest U.S. wireless carriers - Verizon (NYSE:VZ), AT&T (NYSE:T) and T-Mobile (NYSE:TMUS). Sprint (NYSE:S) is planning to sit out on the auction to save firepower for a major sale of low-frequency airwaves scheduled for next year.

Orange CEO Stephane Richard has confirmed that the company will offer Netflix's (NASDAQ:NFLX) services to pay-TV clients through its set-tops starting in November. Orange (NYSE:ORAN) had 5.78M French TV subscribers at the end of Q2. Netflix launched in France (and several other European markets) last month, and has already struck a deal with Orange rival Bouygues (OTCPK:BOUYY).

Nike says its launch of the new LeBron 12 basketball shoe will be delayed indefinitely due to a small cosmetic issue it didn't identify. The shoes' debut was previously scheduled for Oct. 1 in China and Oct. 11 world-wide. According to industry tracker SportsOneSource, Nike (NYSE:NKE) sales of LeBron shoes topped $300M at retail for the year ended in February.

PepsiCo has announced that it will be launching Pepsi True in the middle of this month, and will limit distribution to Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN). Pepsi True is an attempt by PepsiCo (NYSE:PEP) to carve out a niche mid-calorie segment. The drink contains stevia - instead of artificial sweeteners and high-fructose corn syrup.

Philips says it will appeal yesterday's U.S. court ruling ordering it to pay $466M in compensation to Masimo (NASDAQ:MASI) for infringing two patents. "We are very disappointed in the verdict of the jury and surprised by the magnitude of the proposed award," says Philips (NYSE:PHG) CEO Frans van Houten. The patents in question relate to technology used to help measure blood oxygen and track pulse rates.

It had previously been reported that $446.5M fled Pimco's Total Return Fund (NYSEARCA:BOND) last Friday - the day Bill Gross announced his departure - and now Pimco is reporting the exit of $23.5B for the entire month. This would bring total assets at what was once the largest mutual fund to somewhere in the area of $198B. Pimco has nearly $2T in assets under management.

Richard Branson's Virgin Money is planning its IPO in London this month, and expects to raise about £150M ($243M) from the offering. The bank is expected to aim for a £2B valuation, and shares will be sold equivalent to about 25% of the bank's capital. Virgin Money will also return £50M of the proceeds to the British government as part of its payment plan for the purchase of Northern Rock, a British bank that was nationalized during the financial crisis, completing its acquisition price of £1B.

Today's economic calendar:

7:30 Challenger Job-Cut Report
8:30 Gallup US Payroll to Population
8:30 Initial Jobless Claims
10:00 Factory Orders
10:30 EIA Natural Gas Inventory
4:30 PM Money Supply
4:30 PM Fed Balance Sheet
8:00 PM Fed's Bullard: U.S. Monetary Policy

Notable earnings before today's open: ATU, GPN, MKC, STZ